Taming Insanity
by Fangirl Forevz
Summary: Instead of being adopted by Bruce Wayne, Richard Grayson is pulled into a life of crime by the Joker. Dick becomes what everyone in Gotham fears, a murderous psychopath with the same name as his 'father.' Years after his adoption, Jay encounters Young Justice, which creates a chain reaction which no one was expecting. Don't read if you can't handle anything slightly disturbing.
1. Chapter 1

Joker was having a good day.

Two schools filled with Joker Venom, five hospitals in ruin, and a few random buildings were set on fire. Wait, make that four and a half hospitals. In one of them, only half of the explosives went off. Apparently, a set of his newly developed bombs had a glitch that disabled it from doing it's job. Stupid technology.

A large crowd of people ran straight out of the smoking structure, men pushing each other out of their paths, and women holding their children close to them. Screams and curses were exchanged, the cluster of noise nearly drowning out the sound of insane laughter.

Joker chuckled, randomly firing bullets into the gathered crowd. With each gunshot, the people grew more and more desperate in their escape attempts. The only man brave enough to stand up to him was an old geezer, his stance obviously belonging to someone ex military. The man attempted to tackle him to the ground, only to be shot in the gut. Joker pushed the body away from him, gave him a mock salute, then skipped around the body. "I loved this little bonding session, didn't you?" He paused, tilting his head. "Hey, I'm not sure if anyone told you this yet, but...I think you might be a little dead! Ha!"

He burst into a crescendo of laughter, wiping an invisible tear from his eye. Gosh, he was just too funny! As he pranced around the pool of crimson liquid, a new sound pierced the air.

A baby was crying.

Joker tsked, irritated at the unknown child. How would anyone hear him over that screeching banshee? His jokes weren't that bad. In fact, he could call himself a real joker. Ha, joker. Man, he was hilarious...

Ahem.

The Prince of Chaos grinned to himself as he searched the surrounding area for the brat, planning on getting rid of it in the most painful way possible. No one cried at his jokes and got away with it! It didn't take long to locate him, what with the kid bawling his eyes out and all. The sight that the Joker found was...surprising. A boy, only about a year old, was tucked into a small pocket of rubble. It was only due to sheer luck that the top wall didn't collapse onto the small raven haired child. Joker knelt down in front of the opening and prodded at the concrete surrounding the child, smirking when the it shuddered in protest. Oh yeah, that kid wasn't going to last very long.

Joker decided to leave the lad to his new fate, just as a new sound startled him- a baby laughing. Joker turned back around and squinted at the kid suspiciously. The boy simply giggled at the villain, holding his arms out to be picked up. Surprisingly, Joker complied, holding the thing a few inches away from his body. "What are you laughing at? Did you finally get the joke?" He asked with a raised brow. The boy seemed to enjoy the sound of the clown's voice and continued to giggle. "Well, what do you know? Looks like I have a fan!"

The baby gurgled at him happily, drool falling from his face and onto the man's purple suit. Joker rolled his eyes and used the back of his sleeve to wipe the saliva off of his face. "Now, now, kiddo, you can't just drool all over me! My appearance has to be on point!"

Instead of crying at the scolding, the baby burst into another fit of giggles, saying something like, "Gghu ashgll."

"Exactly." Joker patted his head enthusiastically. "You know, most kids are completely terrified of me! Tell me, are you as completely insane as I am? Is that it?" Most adults brainwashed their children into being wimps at an early age. This one, however, there was something different about him.

Something... _Fun_.

"Gnnaya!"

"Oh, goody! I like you. It's a shame that you were completely abandoned here." He looked around, noticing for the first time that the hospital was completely deserted. Was the child alone? "You must have great parents! What are you, an orphan?"

"Nyaga!"

"I'll take that as a yes, my fellow lunatic." That simply wouldn't do. Insanity means family, and family means no one gets left alone in the asylum. Or hospital. Same thing, really. "Say, what's your name? I'm the Joker, obviously."

"Shinigy?"

"No, I asked what your name is. You know, the thing that people call you?" The baby owlishly blinked at him, and Joker sighed dramatically. "You haven't got a name?! Heavens, your parents were awful people. Here, we'll come up with something while we go to my hideout." The clown held the baby closer to him and started to walk towards the Diamond District.

"Alright, what do you have so far?"

"Wushiii!" The child said excitedly.

"Not too bad, but I think you can do better. Try again."

"Gniwthgin!"

"Not really feeling that one either. Neeext!"

"Nibor!"

"Lame! Try coming up with something clever. Take my name, for example. Did you know that before I let myself fall to madness, I was a failed comedian? I know, I know, who would've thought? But now, I'm so hilarious that only the name 'Joker' seemed to fit. Now, you try."

"Jower?"

Joker beamed at the sound of his name, but didn't know why it made him...happy. "Yeah, that's me." He pointed to himself with his free hand. "Joker." He pointed to the kid. "And you are?"

The child giggled joyfully. "Jower!" He shouted, taking the man's hand and gnawing on the pointing finger.

Joker tilted his head. "I'm not a snack." He said, but didn't seem too bothered by it. "And I know that my name is unbelievably clever, but you have to come up with your own!"

"Jower!"

"Unless..." A brilliant idea struck him like lightning, but without the excruciating pain. Joker grinned widely, throwing the kid up into the air and catching him swiftly, their bursts of laughter matching the other's. "You _are_ a lot like me, in the mental department anyways. How do you feel about joining my jolly old family? I'm sure that Harley would adore you to pieces! Not literally, I think."

The baby gurgled again, drooling all over the Joker's hand. Joker simply pried himself away from the kid and wiped the spit off on his pants. "If this is going to work, you're going to have to stop drooling on me. You're cramping my style!" He ruffled the boy's hair as he stopped in front of a dusty apartment complex. Joker balanced the boy in one of his arms while he used the other to throw the front door open, shouting, "Honey, I'm home!"

Harley looked up from a television set in the living room, smiling at her boyfriend lovingly as she stood up to greet him. "Welcome back Mister J!" Her expression remained the same when she noticed the grinning child in the man's arms. "Who's this? I thought we weren't holding any hostages this time."

Joker snorted. "Hostages are too predictable, too boring." He rose the child into the air. "I found this little madman in the hospital wreckage. We're adopting him."

Harley didn't argue against it. In fact, her eyes lit up at the idea. "We are? That's wonderful news Mister J! Can I hold him?"

Joker looked down at the boy. "Will you let Harley hold you?"

"Agayn!"

Joker glanced at Harley in false seriousness. "He said no."

The woman pouted. "Please? I won't drop you, I promise!"

"Shyben!"

"Tough luck Harls."

He didn't admit it, but he just didn't want the kid to give Harley _his_ hard earned attention. Was this how parents felt? Possessive?

"Aww." She poked the kid's nose. "Don't worry, you'll warm up to me. I'm not as funny as Mister J, but I do my best!" She beamed when the boy giggled at her. "See? You're already halfway there!" She looked at Joker curiously. "So, what's the cutie's name?"

"Joker Junior of course! I've been thinking, there's going to be a time when we're both dead and gone, leaving no one to bring chaos into this city. This boy shall be the next madman of Gotham!"

"Gah!" The boy cried in agreement. Joker grinned at him and placed him onto his shoulders, not even flinching when his hair was yanked.

"Joker Junior? How about we call him Junior, or JJ?"

"Hmm..I was thinking 'Jay.' Junior and JJ are common. Jay isn't as normal." He tapped his chin. "We're getting ahead of ourselves! He won't be able to take my name until he can prove that he's worthy of the title!"

"How is he gonna do that?"

"Simple. Put on something nice Harls, we're going out!"

Harley clapped her hands together excitedly, the boy copying her with a giggle. "Oh goody, I just stole a new thing of lipstick too! Where are we headed Mister J?"

"An old chemical plant." Joker said with a twisted grin. "I have three tests for our newest addition!"

xXx Ace Chemicals xXx

"I thought they tore this place down ages ago!" Batman heard Harley exclaim as he silently moved on the rafters.

"All but one!" Joker grinned. "And this is where our family tradition will begin. What do you say, kiddo? Ready to start the first test?"

"Jower!"

Batman's blood went cold at the childish accent. Joker kidnapped and brought a baby here? But why? He wouldn't bring a kid all the way out here just to murder him. Not unless their was another motive behind it.

Batman opened the small computer installed in the arm of his suit and quickly scanned the child. 'Fingerprints belong to Richard Grayson. His parents just put out a missing report for him an hour ago. The police believe that he was killed during one of Joker's explosions. Joker must have found him and brought him here, for whatever reason. This can't be good. I better step in now, before it's too late.'

Batman stuck to the shadows as he crept through the rafters until he was directly above the three. Neither villain seemed to notice him just yet, as they were busy putting some sort of outfit on the lad. "No no no. The shirt's backwards!"

"Sorry Mister J." Harley corrected the shirt before stepping back, beaming at the two of them. "Looks good!"

Batman narrowed his eyes as he recognized the outfit as a mini Joker suit. However, this version was black instead of purple. 'What is he up to...'

Joker held the child away from him and gave him a quick once over. "Oh, yes! You're looking sharp, kiddo!"

"Nyhha! Jower! Miac!"

Joker gasped and looked around wildly. "Is that right? Well now, we can't have that! Well spotted!" He ruffled Richard's hair, who laughed and grabbed onto the hand, holding it in place. Batman stiffened and readied himself to intervene but was surprised when the Joker showed no sign of being angry. In fact, he looked amused.

"What did he say, Mister J?"

Joker lowered his voice, though his words still echoed around the dark room. "Junior says that he saw a bat flying around!"

Batman scowled. Out of every villain that he's ever faced, only the Joker had the ability to pick him out of his hiding spots so easily. How the clown did it would always remain a mystery. Since there was no point in remaining where he was, Batman jumped down from the rafters and landed in front of the villains. "Let the kid go Joker."

Joker beamed at the vigilante. "Hello, Bats! Long time no see!" He poked the kid's side, earning another giggle. "Say hi to our nocturnal friend!"

"Be-ah?"

"Close enough." Joker ruffled the boy's hair. "Where have you been Bats? You missed the party I threw earlier! Everyone else was there, even this little rugrat."

Batman scowled. "I was helping people treat the children that you infected with Joker Venom." He narrowed his eyes at the giggling child. "Did you infect Richard as well?"

"Richard? Is that his name? Boooring! I like the one I picked out more."

"I do too, Mister J!"

"Let him go." Batman repeated, slowly bringing his hand to his belt.

"I will, but when the time is right." The clown grinned wickedly, stepping closer to the pit of green liquid. "Timing is everything, my dear Batty."

Batman growled and made a desperate lunge for them, but was halted when several strands of rope were suddenly wrapped around his torso and legs, successfully sending him onto the ground. He was then pulled up into a sitting position by Harley, who knelt down and swiftly pulled his belt off. "Be a good guest, will you? You don't see us interrupting _your_ family outings!"

Joker snorted. "As if Broody Bat here has a family. Just look at him! His entire outfit screams 'lonely!'"

Batman grit his teeth, trying not to let it show how much that comment affected him. "Leave the boy out of this, or I swear that I'll break every bone in your body."

"Been there, done that. You really need to work on your threats. They're not very original." He turned to Harley. "Now, present the helmet!"

Harley nodded seriously and picked up a small red helmet from the ground. Batman's eyes widened at the sight of it. That was a child sized Red Hood helmet! Just what was Joker planning?

Joker carefully swapped items with his girlfriend, him now holding the helmet while Harley had the kid. The clown lifted the helmet up and held it just above the boy's head. "Do you, Joker Junior, swear to have fun, even in the darkest of times?"

Batman froze. Joker...Junior?

The baby giggled and reached for the Joker, waving his arms madly. "Gah!"

Joker seemed pleased at this response. "And do you swear to bring total chaos to Gotham City, bringing death to those who are boring or who gets in your way?"

"Nyaga!"

Both villains beamed, but Batman found that his heartbeat was quickening. "No. Joker, don't do this."

He was ignored. "Finally, do you swear to remain in the life of a villain forever, annoying Batman and any other hero that you may face?"

The boy gurgled again, making a few unintelligible noises. Joker grinned at him in response. "Then by the chaos vested in me, I declare you to be the newest Red Hood!" The helmet was lowered onto the boy, who simply giggled and threw himself into the Joker's arms. Joker returned the laugh before addressing Harley, "Go to the end of the ride, will you?"

"Yes sir!" Harley replied, skipping away from the three. Minutes later, the sound of a door slamming was heard.

"Joker." Batman hissed. "What is the meaning of this? You know damn well that you don't have what it takes to care for a child! He'll be dead by tomorrow!"

"Like _you_ can take care of a child?"

"That's not the point."

"I suppose not." Joker hugged the child close to him, who giggled happily. "But did you see that Bats? He likes me! I'm pretty fond of him as well. Can't you just let us be a happy little family?"

"No. Being raised by two insane psychopaths is not what a child needs. Let. Him. Go."

"You're such a party pooper, Bats!"

Suddenly, Harley's voice came from somewhere outside. "I'm here Mister Jay!"

"Perfect." Joker leaned against the rail that separated him from the pit of chemicals, holding the boy a few inches inches away from him, above the green liquid. He seemed to tear up a bit. "Look at you, about to take your very first test. Kids grow up so fast..."

Batman struggled against the thick ropes with all of his might. "Don't do it! Just let him go!"

Joker chuckles darkly, turning his head to grin at Batman. "Oh Bats, when will you ever learn? You have a bad habit of using the wrong choice of words."

The child fell into the chemicals.

"NO!"

"Hahaha!" Joker hopped next to Batman and dragged him closer to the pit, allowing him to see that the child was no where in sight. "It shouldn't be too long now. I chose the shortest slide, you see. Jay won't be old enough for the bigger ones for quite a while, and I'm unbelievably impatient!"

"You...sick..."

"Choose your next words carefully, Batsy. We have a child in our proximity, remember?"

A child's wail pierced the air. Batman mentally flinched at the sound. Part of him was hoping that Richard would have drowned so that he wouldn't have to suffer through the affects of the chemicals. Maybe, just maybe, the chemicals wouldn't have an affect on him...

Harley soon walked in carrying the drenched and screaming child with her. The woman tried yet failed to calm the child, who randomly lashed out with his arms and legs while crying hysterically. "Shh, Jay. Remember, you swore on laughter, not tears!"

Joker's smile faded away, replaced by a rare scowl. "Watch your tongue, Harley. Going through what he did isn't an easy accomplishment."

"Sorry Mister J..."

"You're forgiven, this time. Hand him over." Harley gave the sobbing child to the clown, who patted his head in a fatherly way. "There there, Jay."

Batman growled lowly, twisting one of his arms lose. Only the Joker had the ability to trap him for more than a few minutes. "You just scarred a child for life. When I get my hands on you..."

Joker waved a dismissive hand at him, immune to bat-threats. Richard, however, stared at the vigilante from under his helmet, finally calming down. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Joker set the boy down, who wobbled on unsteady feet and had to latch onto Joker's leg to stay standing. "Now, wanna have fun?"

"Uyn?"

"Yes, that's right!" He made a faint gesture to Harley, who dragged a full body mirror to the two of them. "It's time to see if you truly passed the first test!" Joker put both of his hands onto the helmet and swiftly yanked it off.

Batman felt his stomach lurch uncomfortably.

The boy was now a splitting image of the Joker. What was once black hair was now a sickly shade of green, while the child's ocean blue eyes transformed into a dark emerald color. The white skin of the boy's face became even paler, his now ruby red lips standing out against boy had tear streaks on his face, but seemed to have gotten over his near death experience.

Richard stared at the mirror, giggling at the two similar people that he saw. After that, he paused, and then slowly lifted a hand up. When his reflection copied him, Richard's laughter grew louder. Joker mimicked him, throwing his head back as he did so. Finally, Harley joined in on the insane giggling.

The three of them looked like one _twisted_ little family.

Batman finally got his arm free, and used it to throw the rope off. Seconds later, he was on his feet and threw a powerful punch at Harley's side, hearing a satisfying CRUNCH afterwards. Joker quickly scooped up Richard and inched away from the vigilante. "Well, this was fun, but we really should be going. Right Jay?"

"Ggh!"

Batman surged forward and yanked the green haired boy away from the clown, using his foot to send the Joker flying. He held the disturbing child close to him, speaking in a hushed tone. "You're safe now."

Richard stared at him with wide eyes, then looked towards Harley, and then Joker. When his gaze returned to the vigilante, it was filled with fear. "Mon! Mon!"

The hero misunderstood him. "We'll bring you to your mother soon. I'm sure she's worried."

The boy suddenly screamed loudly, thrashing in Batman's arms. "Mon! Jower? Mon!"

The Joker finally stood, sneering at the dark knight. "Here that, Bats? He thinks that you're a monster. He hates you. But, guess what, he's calling for _me_ right now and you're keeping him away! Who's the one scarring children now?"

Batman remained silent, keeping a tight grip on the struggling child, faintly wondering how Joker managed to translate the child's babbling perfectly. Richard squirmed in his tight grasp, whining, "Nu! Jower!"

Joker walked towards them. "Now just hand him over, Bats."

"No." Batman said firmly, tensed and ready to spring away from the clown at moment's notice.

"I thought you might say that...Harley!"

Something then collided with the back of Batman's head, sending him forward. Before he could reach the ground, Richard was snatched out of his arms. As soon as he hit the cold concrete, a needle was plunged into his neck.

He sat up, but the world was now disoriented.

"Well, that was fun." Joker said with a wide smile, face morphing to look more demonic. "Thank you so much for showing up tonight. You were my second test, you see. If Jay liked you, well..." He looked at Harley. "Time for the final test!"

"Okay hun. I'll be right back!" The woman smiled wickedly and she waved as she left, her image becoming distorted.

"What...did you do...to me?" Batman gasped, unsuccessfully trying to push himself off of the blisteringly hot ground.

"Like it? Ol' Scarecrow let me test it out. It's injectable fear gas! I myself have been working on a liquid version of Joker Venom..."

Harley came back in, dragging a bound Alfred along with her. Batman froze, staring at him in horror. "Here you are, Mister J!"

The butler groaned and looked around in fear. When his eyeless sockets landed on the vigilante, it froze. "Bruce? Please, you must help me!"

Batman only grunted, kneeling on shaking knees. He had to save him...but how?

"Shut it, gramps." Joker said, kicking the man in the gut. The Joker danced around Batman's fatherly figure while swinging Richard around, who was laughing like a hyena. "Ready for the last test?"

"Ngya!" The boy's teeth were shark-like, and his eyes were a bloody red. His appearance flickered, however. One minute, he saw an evil miniature Joker. The next, he saw the innocent face of Richard Grayson, fear showing in his teary eyes. He didn't know which image he hated more.

"Very good. Here." The clown pulled a gun out of his front pocket and handed it to the child. Richard gripped the weapon and swung it around carelessly, giggling. Joker chuckled at the boy's antics and wrapped his own hands around the child's, guiding his fingers to the proper positions and holding it steady. The gun was then pointed at the butler, who looked at Batman desperately.

"Please!"

"Alright Jay, this is your final test. If you can kill this man, you're in. If you can't...Well, let's not ponder over that right now." A grin. "Pull the trigger whenever you're ready!"

Silence.

"I know it's difficult, but I'm sure you can figure it out!"

Richard stared at the gun in confusion, unsure of what to do with it. "Jower?" He tightened his grip on the weapon, his finger pulling on the trigger slightly.

"That's it, there you go!"

"You can do it Jay!" Harley said cheerfully.

Richard seemed to understand what he was being cheered for, and finally pulled back on the trigger with just enough force-

BANG!

Batman snarled and tried yet again to get himself back onto his feet, but paused when he saw the man. A pool of blood circled around the corpse's body, but it wasn't Alfred anymore.

It was Thomas Wayne.

Bruce was back in Crime Alley, his parents's blog gathering at his feet. He fell back onto his knees as he gazed at the smiling faces of his dead parents, their pale skin and red mouths looking out of place in the dark environment.

"See you later Batsy." His father said with a chuckle as the two of them dissolved into the pavement below them. Three sets of laughter rang in Bruce's ears as he unsuccessfully tried to rescue his parents from death.

Everything soon went black.

xXx Later xXx

When Batman came to, the villains were gone, along with Richard. They did leave the dead body, though, a man named Gustav Hudson. Batman quickly went into detective mode, skimming through any records for information on Hudson while also looking for clues on the whereabouts of the Joker family. The villains and the kid left behind no traces, but Batman was able to find out who Gustav was. The man left a good life behind him; he was happily married with three kids, and another one on the way.

Batman tried to not think about them.

He brought a hand up to the communicator in his ear as he exited the building. "Alfred."

 _"Sir? I've been trying to make contact with you for almost a half hour. Are you all right?"_

"I'm fine."

 _"Are you sure? Your voice..."_

"I just watched Joker adopt a son. He made him kill someone, Alfred."

 _"Oh dear. Did you save the boy?"_

"No. They knocked me out with a strong dose of fear toxin. When I came to, they were gone." Batman used his grappling hook to pull himself up to a far away building. "That's not all. Joker threw the boy into the same chemicals that made him go insane...Even if I save him, the physical and mental affects are permanent."

 _"That's quite unfortunate."_ Alfred sounded concerned. _"You must rescue him anyway. I fear what the Joker will do to him while he is in his mercy."_

Batman paused. He didn't know whether or not he should've mentioned that the Joker was almost...fatherly, towards the boy. It was disturbing, to say in the least. "I think it's too late, Alfred. If the Joker doesn't want to be found, even I can't find him."

Alfred sighed. _"Very well. Will you be returning now?"_

"No. I have to talk to Commissioner Gordon." He landed on the rooftop of the GCPD. "Also, I think that the Graysons should be informed about this."

 _"It was Richard that the Joker kidnapped?"_ The elderly man seemed saddened. The two of them spoke with the Graysons shortly after their son's disappearance _. "Oh, they will be just heartbroken...They don't deserve to lose their son."_

Batman ended the call after that, silently agreeing with the last statement. Losing a son has to be just as bad as losing your parents. The Bruce side of Batman became depressed about the loss of Richard Grayson. He was positive that the boy would be dead soon, and couldn't help but think about the life that the poor kid had ahead of him. He could've done great things. He might've been an artist, a musician, an athlete, a trapeze artist, a police officer...

Hell, he could've been a hero!

Batman threw himself into an open window and silently crept through the police department until he was just outside the door.

"Any news on Richard?"

"Sorry Mrs. Grayson. There isn't a lead on your son yet."

Batman hesitated. If the Graysons were there, then he could kill two birds with one stone. But, that also meant that he had to be extra careful with what he said. Making up his mind, he silently pulled the door open and walked straight up to Gordon's desk. "Commissioner."

Gordon didn't look surprised. "Batman." He looked at the tear streaked faces of the Graysons. "Sorry, but could you give us a moment?"

"Actually, I think it's best that they stay. I have information concerning both the Joker and the missing Richard Grayson."

The male Grayson, John, took his wife's hand. "Where is he? Where's our son?"

Batman found that he couldn't keep eye contact. "I'm sorry, but-"

"No!" Mary suddenly sobbed, fat tears running down her face. "He can't be dead, he can't be!" She choked on her sobs, nearly hyperventilating. "H-his birthday's tomorrow. We lost aunt Cathy, and now..." Cathy must have been the person that the Graysons were visiting in the hospital.

Batman nearly corrected her about her son being dead but decided against it. It would be better if the two parents assumed that he was only killed. To know that your child was going through psychological trauma would be too much to handle. "I was too late to stop him. I'm sorry."

John nodded at him gravely. "You did your best. That's all we can ask..."

Gordon cleared his throat. "It was the Joker that did it?"

"Yes." His mind quickly came up with a plausible story. "Gordon, there's something else you need to know. Joker and Harley, they...reproduced."

The Commissioner seemed to choke on air itself. "They what?"

Batman nodded. "They have a son. His name is Joker Junior, or Jay. He's about a year old." He glanced away. "They made Junior kill both Grayson and a man named Gustav Hudson."

Mary looked horrified. "They forced a child to kill?"

"Yes. I'm not sure if Junior is their biological son or not." Batman lied easily. "If he is, it's a miracle that he survived this long."

Gordon swallowed. "Okay. We'll keep an eye out for the kid. Where are Grayson and Hudson's bodies?"

"Hudson is in the chemical plant near Pioneer Bridge. Grayson, however." He sighed. "I don't know where his body is." That wasn't a lie.

"My poor baby..." Mary whispered, leaning against John for comfort.

Batman slipped out at that moment, deciding that he did everything he could.

What he didn't know was that that wouldn't be the last time he'd see a Grayson.

xXx

 **AN: So, yeah, I rewrote this chapter. I reread what it was before, and didn't really like it. It was sloppy. Here, I fixed some mistakes, added a couple of things, and hopefully clarified what was going through Joker's mind in the first part of the chapter.**

 **This is a Young Justice fic. The Team will make their appearances in later chapters. For now, this story is going to focus on Jay and his childhood. I can't wait to post the next chapter!**

 **By the way, I mentioned that both Scarecrow and Joker were only beginning to put their respective drugs into a liquid form. I decided to mention that just so that the story had a past-y tone to it. Also, my timeline may or may not be a little bit off, but keep it in mind that this is simply a fanfiction.**

 **Thanks for reading**!


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello, fellow lunatics (I mean, if you got passed chapter one, you have to be a** ** _little_** **insane). I just wanted to warn you that there's some dark stuff in this chappie. Don't read if blood and violence makes you ill.**

 **Happy reading!**

xXx

Maniac laughter filled the air, drowning out the pained screams originating from a tied up man. The screams grew quiet as Joker pulled away to discard a bloody tooth, and put his pliers on the table next to him. "My my, you have such a lovely singing voice. I'm not sure how you could hold a note for so long!"

The man thrashed in his binds, the chair he was tied to tipping ever so slightly. "Please! I said sorry!" He cried, rubbing his wrists raw on the rope.

"Sorry? We don't accept apologies around here! You really should have known better." Joker picked up his next tool, which happened to be a crowbar. "Oh, I like this one." He ran his hand over it lovingly, a twisted grin on his face. "It makes the loveliest music."

"N-no. Plea- AH!" The crowbar smacked his cheek, making his entire head snap to the side. The man sobbed uncontrollably, struggling against his bonds desperately.

"Hahaha!" Joker smacked the bar against his shoulder, and then the exposed part of his side. The man's screams and the sound of bones snapping only made his smile widen, and his strikes came more and mode frequently.

"STOP! I'LL DO ANYTH- ACK!"

Joker simply laughed and grabbed him by the front of his ropes, pulling him forward until they were practically nose to nose. "Tell me, do you have any spawn?"

The man was breathing heavily, nearly hyperventilating. "P-please..."

The clown's expression darkened and he pushed the man back with enough force to send chair onto the ground. "I asked a question! If I don't get an answer, I won't be as nice!"

"I-I-" the man gulped as he caught sight of the gleam of a dagger resting in his tormentor's hands. "Okay, okay! I d-don't have any kids!"

The knife was suddenly embedded in his right arm. The prisoner howled and thrashed around, pained tears rapidly falling down his face and dripping down to mix with his blood. Joker laughed in response to his cries, but his eyes were blazing with anger. "Do you think that I can't tell if you're fibbing? A six year old tells better lies than you. Trust me, I know."

A look of pure terror was met by his words. "Don't hurt them. Please, please don't hurt them..." he whimpered.

With a click of his tongue, Joker knelt down next to him, a tip of another dagger being held up to his cheek. "I'll consider it. As long as you be good, your pathetic little DNA carriers won't face any harm." He pressed added a bit of pressure, causing a few drops of blood to appear. "Now, do you ever cuss in front of your children?"

The man gulped. "N-no, I don't. My wife-"

"I don't care about your wife!" Joker snapped, grabbing a fistful of his hair. "Just your kids, and your kids only! If you get off subject again-" a dark look crossed his face and he snickered. "Well, let's say that you won't be able to produce any more children." He allowed the man continue to sob for a few seconds before speaking again, "So, you're telling me that you don't use any naughty language in front of your rugrats?"

"No..."

"Then why," he lifted the man's head up and slammed it on the ground, "on Earth," he repeated the action, using more force, "would you think that it would be okay to do so in the presence of _mine_?"

The man whimpered. "I d-didn't mean any disrespect! I-I assumed-"

"That I wouldn't care? That I often use such vulgar language in front of my precious son?" His smile turned into an offended sneer.

Fearful eyes widened as the man frantically shook his head. "No s-sir! I bet you are t-the p-perfect parent."

Joker smirked. "Of course I am!" He moved out of view and later reappeared with a worn out book, holding it in the other man's face so that he could get a good look at it. "Parent books exist for a reason. I admit that I wasn't the ideal father at first, but look how far I've come!" He flipped through the pages, stopping about halfway through the book. "Ah, these are the major tips for raising a kid. Look here, rule four specifically says, 'avoid using strong language in the presence of your son or daughter.'"

"I'm sorry!"

The maniac ignored him, skimming the page again. "Oh, what's this? Rule 8: 'get your children involved with your work.' What do you know, it's apparently good family bonding. Huh." He smirked. "Well, rules are rules. Jay, come in here!"

The man shivered violently as the large wooden door creaked open and slammed shut again. Light footsteps was the only sound being made as the newcomer walked closer and closer to the two men. There was a small pause, and then the new person knelt down next to the clown, a matching smirk on his lips. The boy was around ten years old, if his size was anything to go by. Messy green hair stuck up everywhere on his head, and matching green eyes watched the prisoner's struggles with a glimmer of glee. In contrast with his pale skin was a black version of the Joker's suit, and a rainbow colored ring adorned his finger.

"Hi." The boy said cheerfully, giving the man a friendly wave. He then looked at the taller clown, eyes wide with false innocence. "Is this one of your coworkers Dad?"

"You could say that." Joker handed him a dagger. "This man is going to join us in a bit of father-son time."

"Sounds like fun." The green haired child accepted the dagger and examined it like a kid would to a new toy. He ran his fingers over it possessively before using it to cut the ropes away. The prisoner attempted to wriggle away from the two as soon as he was free, but was halted by a foot on his stomach.

"Tsk, leaving so soon? The party's just getting started!"

The boy giggled in agreement and started to cut away the front of his shirt. He paused once he got to bare skin, and tilted his head curiously. "No tattoos?"

A small shake of the head. "N-no," the man whispered.

The boy pouted. "How boring! Let's put a remedy to that, shall we?" The remains of the shirt was pulled away from him and tossed to the side carelessly. The cold blade of the dagger was then pressed against the skin above his heart, which thumped loudly in his chest. "This might sting a bit." The boy warned with a sweet smile.

"No, please don-" The man broke off and began to holler again, sounding quiet compared to the duo's insane laughter.

xXx

Jay scrubbed the blood off of his hands, whistling a merry tune as he watched the clear water darken. Once he was done, he turned the faucet off and grabbed the nearest towel. The cloth smelled disgusting, and the murky color of it made him question it's origins, but he used it anyways. When his both hands were good and dry, he pranced out of the bathroom.

He had the rest of the day to himself while his dad busted his mom out of the Bad Place. As a Joker, he wasn't fond of doing absolutely nothing, so he wandered around the small house while trying to find something interesting. What to do, what to do...

Both of his parents have forbidden him from wandering the city by himself, but he found a loophole in their order. They only said he wasn't allowed in _Gotham_ , but now he was in _Keystone_. The amount of fun waiting to be had there was overwhelming!

Overwhelming? That was a strange word. Why wasn't anyone just- Wait, he was getting off topic. This is why his mother diagnosed him with ADHD.

Jay snickered to himself as he walked towards the exit of the house. A couple of men lazing around in the living room scrambled up to their feet once they caught sight of him, looks of disbelief being shared between them. The boy became a myth in the criminal world, and nobody wanted to believe that he truly existed. Apparently, thinking about a psychotic child was too disturbing for them to handle. That was fine with his parents, who were so protective over him that they rarely let him out of their sight. Only a few people were allowed to live after seeing him, and they had to be very important to his father's crime organization. Judging by the stupid expressions on these thugs's faces, they would not be spared. Oh well.

"Don't tell Dad that I went into town if he asks." He ordered, amused by their frightened looks. Honestly, he was no where near his father's level of scariness. These guys were total wimps.

"Uh, sure?"

He smiled sweetly. "Thanks," he chirped before slipping outside. It was very cloudy outside, and rain threatened to make a reappearance. Jay wasn't too bothered, considering that he has never gotten a cold in his life. His emerald green eyes focused on the tall buildings in the distance, and he hummed indecisively. Should be go downtown as Jay, or a civilian? Chaos, or free time?

He didn't feel like scrubbing blood off of his clothes again, so he decided on the latter. Time to be a civilian. Jay twisted his ring off of his finger and squeezed it tightly in his hand. A sharp pain originated in his chest, but he ignored it, focusing on the image in his head. In an instant, the form of a mini Joker was replaced by a dark haired boy with bright blue eyes, and slightly darker skin. The pain in his chest eventually faded away, and he slipped his ring back on, pleased. "Thank you Uncle Wotan."

The ring had been a gift from the magical villain, an item that could change his appearance at will, with the small price of heart pain. The ring made it possible for him to hide in plain sight whenever the authorities were on to him. Between the police and Batman, it was hard to be in Gotham for more than a few minutes without gaining attention, so the ring became a necessity.

Speaking of Batman, Jay had only caught glimpses of the famous vigilante, but heard enough tales from his parents to create a solid mental picture. A pitch black body, claws instead of fingernails, and bloody red eyes. Batman could be considered a demon, who took pleasure in ridding the world of the fun that his father provided. Joker once told Jay how the man had tried kidnapping him when he was just a baby, so it was a given that he was to be kept away from him at all costs.

Still, Jay was a curious boy. He knew that Batman wanted to crush every bone in his body, and probably toss him into the Bad Place, but he wanted to know why. It didn't make sense for someone to do that without reason. He never told his parents about his curiosity for obvious reasons. Either they would become even more protective over him, or he would end up getting hit. Or both. That was always a possibility too.

Jay continued to ponder over these thoughts as he wandered around downtown. He rarely had any time to think, his father discouraging anything besides impulsive decisions. However, Jay found that he still liked to think every so often. He learned a lot more by thinking it over, and he would surely be as stupid as Penguin if he didn't learn. Besides, laughing all the time gave him a headache.

His feet eventually brought him to a park, which was nearly empty due to the weather. It was the perfect place to get rid of all of his boring thoughts, without anyone there to distract him.

That was until he caught sight of Artemis and Cameron sitting on a distant park bench.

"Arty, Icy!" He called out, gaining their attention. Both looked surprised by the sound of their names, but relaxed when they saw the ring on his finger. The three of them had a strange friendship going on, them being the last of the rare kid villain species. They had all met when an organization called the Light convinced each of their parents to form alliances with them. Even though the adult villains barely managed to stand one another, their spawn were as close as siblings.

"Hey Jay." Cameron/Icicle Junior greeted when he got closer. He rose his eyebrows after giving him a once over. "Using that form again? Looks like you're getting attached."

A shrug. "It's easier to change into the same one over and over again. Then I don't have to focus as much." He grinned. "Besides, the more I have to focus, the more pain there is. Heart attacks are getting old."

Actually, that wasn't the entire truth. He had learned to disregard high levels of pain when he was three, so a bit of heartache wasn't too concerning. The real reason he used the same form consecutively was because it was somewhat familiar to him. He knew that he never met anyone with these characteristics, whenever he saw his reflection when he was like this, he felt more like himself than when in his true form.

Artemis stared at something on his sleeve. "I'm guessing that you didn't just spill ketchup on yourself." She said quietly.

Jay followed her gaze to a splash of blood he missed on his suit. "Ah, no. Dad and I had a bonding moment."

Icy shivered, ands Jay briefly wondered if ice villains could get the chills. "Okay, my dad might have killed people, but I don't even want to imagine what bonding time could mean in your house."

An intense look formed in Arty's eyes after that statement. "Did he do anything to you?"

The young clown couldn't help but feel angry at that question. "Of course not." He snapped, scowling. "Dad would never hurt me. This is someone else's."

Artemis pursed her lips and hesitantly put a hand on his chest, just above the J shaped scar. "And what do you call drawing on your skin with a knife?"

He pulled away and avoided meeting her eyes. "That's in case someone ever tries to take me away. If they see that, they'll think twice before doing anything."

"So it's a mark of ownership." Icy said.

His anger flared at the tone of disapproval. "Yes, it is! But so what; I _am_ his son. In some ways, he does own me. What's the big deal?"

The two older kids shared a defeated look, making him bristle. Jay hated when these conversations came up. His two friends were quick to assume that his father was torturing him any time he had any small amount of evidence pointing to that. Sure, there were a few terrifying moments where his blood was shed, but his father always apologized for it and took him out afterwards. Jay couldn't possibly stay angry at him for getting frustrated with him. He was a handful, he knew.

Besides, the good times definitely outweighed the bad. His parents gave him all the attention he needed, gave him whatever he desired, and always knew how to make him laugh. He wouldn't trade his life with his family for anything, and if there were a few bad times, then he would deal with it. Families were supposed to stick together no matter what.

At least, that's what he learned from a cartoon on Disney Channel.

"If he ever does anything, you know where to find us." Artemis said softly.

Icy nodded in agreement "Yeah kid, don't hesitate to get one of us."

Jay nodded shortly. "Yeah, I'll remember that..." he forced another grin, sensing the needed change of subject. "So what did the Light say about our mini Injustice League idea?"

The three of them had hoped to be able to go on their own missions without the aid of their parents. If they could form a team, they would be nearly unbeatable with their different skills and personalities. The only problem they faced was getting the Light to agree to such a thing, but they haven't received an answer so far.

Icicle Junior would be their powerhouse, since he was stronger than the average human. On top of his strength, his ice powers could come in handy too. If they ever needed a quick escape, freezing their enemies would work well enough. However, The Light was concerned about Cameron's temper, which easily got out of hand when he was insulted.

For a freezer, he could get pretty hot headed.

Artemis was perfect for long range attacks. While Jay and Icy would be using hand to hand combat, Arty could pick off enemies from a distance with her bow and arrow. However, her personality was also an issue. She always had the need to prove herself to everyone else and often got carried away with it.

Last and certainly not least was Jay, who had the acrobatic skills of his mother and the weapon/chemistry knowledge of his father. On top of that, he had recently taken an interest in computer technology, and was on his way to becoming a master hacker. Unfortunately, the Light also had an issue with his personality. Even his 'friends' complained that he was too unpredictable to work with. Apparently, any slight change in his mood could tip the victory scale, and they were afraid that it wouldn't be in their favor. Oops?

"Dad says that they're thinking about it." Artemis told him. "But it's probably not going to happen. The Justice League has recently been letting out their kid protege's, and the Light doesn't want us to clash just yet. We're looking at a couple of years before a final decision is made."

Icicle grumbled. "My dad told me the same thing. I'm getting bored with only tagging along in lame bank robberies. I'm capable of doing other things too!"

Jay laughed at that. "Is that right? Icy, you threw up the last time you saw me kill someone!"

The older boy flushed. "I wouldn't have if you didn't feel the need to torture him before putting a bullet through his head! I mean seriously, a quick death is all it takes!"

"But that's too boring." Jay said in disagreement. "Bullets take away the fun of watching the fear in your victim's eyes."

Artemis wrinkled her nose. "You are in serious need of therapy."

"I have my mother for that, thanks." His phone went off at that moment, and he quickly fished it out of his pocket to check the notifications. An unknown number texted him, telling him that they were on their way home. It was signed with a J, so it wasn't hard to deduce who sent it. "Well, I gotta go. If Dad gets home before me, I'm screwed." He chuckled nervously and quickly took his leave.

"Remember what we said earlier!" Artemis called after him as he made his escape. Jay waved a dismissive hand as he left, annoyed by their persistent overprotectiveness.

Just because his dad sometimes hurt him did not mean he was being abused.

xXx

 **AN: Yeah, this is kind of short but I just wanted to introduce Jay's personality and his friendships. Cameron might be a little OOC but it's hard to write about him when he didn't get much screen time in the show. I like the idea of Jay, Artemis, and Icicle Junior having similar issues as Young Justice, like being treated like sidekicks and being grumpy about it.**

 **By the way, the Team will make an appearance soon. Be patient.**

 **Love it? Hate it? Have any suggestions? Want to rant about something? Then please comment or message me. I love hearing from all of you. Your responses to the last chapter made me happy. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Trigger warning: abuse.**

xXx

"Hahaha! Hyenas are hilarious!" Jay exclaimed as he shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. A small black ball of fur next to him made a displeased noise as it jumped onto his lap, knocking the popcorn bowl over. Jay swallowed his snack and pouted at the feline, who simply stared up at him with its own bright green eyes. "Aw don't be that way, Bat. Lion King isn't that bad of a movie." He gestured to the tv screen. "Look, lions are part of your family!"

Sometime six months ago, Jay found a stray kitten prowling around in his backyard. With the help of his parents, he managed to catch the kitten and keep it as a pet. While the animal certainly wasn't enthusiastic about his living arrangements at first, Jay thought that he was starting to warm up to him, if the smaller amount of scratches on his arms was anything to go by. The cat was almost pure black, save for the patch of white fur he had on his right side. Jay's mother had said that the patch looked like a distorted Bat symbol, and Jay took it as an opportunity to name his new companion 'Batcat.'

The kitten made another disgruntled noise and crawled off of his lap, choosing to curl up on the other side of his bed instead. Jay found that his friend didn't enjoy hearing the sound of his laughter, for some odd reason. Not only that, but he definitely hated both of his owner's parents. Bat always hissed whenever either of them came near him, and just about refused to leave Jay's room. All of these traits only made him seem more similar to the famous Dork Knight.

"Fine, be that way." Jay said while sticking his tongue out. He returned his attention to the movie, not as happy now that he was snackless. He was considering getting a new bowl when a noise from downstairs caught his attention.

"You ruined my entire plan!" His father exploded from below him, and the sound of a door slamming followed soon after.

His mother made a noise like she was choking. "I'm sorry puddin! I didn't mean to-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

Batcat bristled and scrambled off of the bed, crawling under the small space under Jay's wardrobe. The small boy was tempted to join him, but figured that it would be a better idea to go downstairs and see what the problem was. His parents usually stopped arguing the moment he was in their sights, and by the sound of it, he needed to intervene soon. Joker's rage was not something to take lightly, and Harley could very well be murdered by him.

So Jay stood up, paused his movie, and exited his room.

When the boy was about halfway down the staircase, the sound of shattering glass caused him to pause. He waited for a minute, and only continued when he heard shouting again. When he poked his head into the living room, he was met with the sight of his mother frantically trying to pick up the pieces of shattered glass on the floor, while he father stood above her with a scowl on his face, ready to start yelling again. Jay cleared his throat and walked into the room, making both heads swivel to look at him.

"What's up?" He asked with a small smile. Smiles were good, they seemed to calm people down. Grins and smirks were very familiar in this household, so the probability of one calming them down was high. "I heard shouting."

The Joker's scowl slowly faded away, and was then replaced by a grin of his own. "Hello, Jay. I hope we weren't bothering you." He looked down at his girlfriend and his smile darkened. "Mommy and Daddy were just having a... disagreement. Nothing to worry about. Right hun?"

Harley stood up next to Joker and took his hand, forcing a smile of her own. "Nothin to worry about kiddo," she agreed. "Mom and Dad still love each other very much."

Jay nodded slowly. "Okay."

His mother then shifted a little, and in the process she accidentally let a shard of glass fall onto the ground, which shattered into smaller fragments. Joker's grin fell into a sneer, and he pushed her away from him. "Must you make a mess of everything today?!"

His mother sniffled, and Jay took a brave step forward. "Dad, she didn't mean to. It was just an accident."

Enraged green eyes turned towards him, making him freeze like a deer in headlights. Joker took two strides closer to his son and glared at him fiercely. "Taking your mother's side, are you?" He sneered, "turning into a momma's boy?"

Jay laughed and shook his head. "No. I just don't want to hear any more screaming."

His laugh was repeated by his father, who pushed him backwards. "Lies! You are just so full of lies!"

The boy barely stopped himself from toppling over, but had no time to brace himself for being shoved against the nearest wall. Before he could even blink, the cold touch of a blade was up against his throat. "Dad," he breathed, smile widening as the pressure of the blade increased.

"You are _my_ son. Do you hear that? Mine!" Joker grinned at him. "We share the same twisted DNA, you and I. What connection do you have with Harley? We're not married, so she's not even your step mother!"

Jay felt his insides grow cold as he felt a few drops of precious blood roll down his skin, and he laughed in a more desperate, breathy kind of tone.

"Mister J, you're scaring him." Harley whispered from behind Joker. "We don't want him to have nightmares, do we?"

A fog seemed to lift from Joker, who nodded and pulled away with a more sincere smile. "Sorry about that. Looks like I got a bit carried away!" His eyes focused on the smeared blood on his son's neck. "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"

Jay smoothed away any invisible wrinkles he had on his clothing and stared at his parents. Both adults seemed much more relaxed, and neither looked as though they would start another fight anytime soon. His father had that strange gleam that he usually had after he hurt Jay, so the boy came to the conclusion that the argument was officially settled.

"Nothing that a scoop of ice cream wouldn't fix," he finally replied with a grin. "I'll throw my shoes on."

Both of his parents shared a giggle.

xXx

Artemis yawned as she curled up on the couch, eyes flickering to her mother's form and then focusing back on the television screen. It was very hard for her to focus on the movie; there was too much on her mind for it. Several subjects whirled around in her head: her family, her friends, and where she stood in the fight between good and evil.

Her family situation was a very complicated one. With her mom just returning to prison, Artemis had the choice of either living with her or remaining with her dad. The choice itself wasn't as complicated, but the effect it would have was. Her father would surely be angry at her for this, and because she now had nothing to do with him, she had no connections to the organization he was affiliated with.

But their stupid psychic erased all information on that organization from her mind. Damn.

Besides that, her relationship with her mother was a very strange one. Artemis still didn't feel entirely comfortable with her due to the amount of time it's been since she's seen her. On top of that, there was still the mystery of what happened to her sister. Her father once mentioned how Jade would be involved with his organization in the near future, but Artemis left before she could see what he meant by that. Artemis still missed her sister terribly, but she wasn't going to deal with her father just to see her.

Not being involved in crime also meant that she was now distant with her friends. Cameron and Jay had known her for years, and she was more than a little sad to have to cut ties with them. Even though Cam hit on her all the time, he wasn't such a bad guy for a villain kid. She might have even ended up dating him if she remained in the Minions.

Heh, Minions. That's what the kid villains called themselves- an ongoing inside joke that was started by Jay a couple of years ago.

Jay...

Artemis was very fond of the chaotic boy, even if he had some issues. She could probably be one of the only people who could say that she saw the sane side of him, or witnessed a time where he acted like an actual child. Artemis thought back to how he acted when they first met, and had to repress a shudder. Jay had been his parents's son back then, and had been as vicious and cruel as Joker Senior. Cameron and Artemis hated the kid at first, and even admitted to have bullied him on some occasions.

But then _it_ happened.

Their parents always had them sit in another room together while they discussed things, and they were usually stuck with each other's company for hours. One day, Artemis and Cameron arrived at the room first, and went into their usual discussion of how they were sick of not being allowed in the meetings. About thirty minutes later, Jay walked in and just about collapsed on the ground, laughing. Artemis and Cameron didn't question it. They were used to the boy randomly bursting into giggles that they barely even noticed it anymore. But then, Artemis heard something different. Jay kept breaking off every few seconds and took in a deep shuddering gasp before continuing again. The gasps were soon joined by hiccups, and then sniffles.

Jay was _crying_.

Artemis then took a look at him, and had gasped out loud when she saw him. The boy was leaning against the metal door, head thrown back with laughter, and an arm tucked close to his chest that was positioned in such an awkward angle that it was impossible for it to not be broken. The boy was indeed laughing, but he had tears falling from his eyes and a grimace on his face instead of a smile.

Just the memory of it made her wince.

After exchanging looks, Cameron and Artemis took control of the situation and tried to calm Jay as much as they could. The poor boy was in hysterics, and couldn't say more than a couple of words before breaking down again. Eventually, the two older kids pulled the younger into a comforting hug, which slowly made Jay stop crying. When Cameron asked who hurt him, Artemis felt her heart break when he told him that it was his father who did it, but she became angry when he told them that it was _his_ fault that his father broke his arm. No matter what they said, the boy was stubborn with blaming himself, and it quickly became apparent that he would never understand that he wasn't at fault.

After that, both Artemis and Cameron became fiercely protective over the child. Jay's mental state suddenly made perfect, yet horrible sense, and it was sickening to see a man take advantage of a child's undying loyalty in such a way. Joker had twisted his son's mind in a way that would destroy a grown adult, yet Jay continued to follow him around like a lost puppy.

Joker was the last person to deserve that kid in his life.

"Artemis?" Her mother asked, bringing her to the present.

"Yeah, Mom?"

The woman gave her a look of concern. "You were staring out into space. What's on your mind?"

Artemis hesitated before responding, "I'm worried about one of the friends I made when I was living with Dad."

"Was he involved with that stuff too?" Her mother asked softly. Artemis nodded, and her mother sighed. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must be difficult not knowing if they're okay. Were they a good person like you?"

The image of a laughing Jay surfaced in Artemis's mind. "No, he's not," she said truthfully, "but, I think there's some good in him. Just like Jade and I, he was dragged into all of this without a say so." She looked down. "He doesn't understand what's right and wrong, but I've seen him hesitate before. All he needs is a push in the right direction, by just the right person, and I'm sure he'd be good too."

There was a quiet squeak as her mother wheeled herself closer to her, and she put a hand on her shoulder. "Then I hope that he finds that someone soon." Her hand moved to her daughter's hair, and she smiled softly. "Dark times will be coming soon, and I'm afraid your friend will be caught in the middle of it."

Artemis closed her eyes, sighing. "I know. And honestly, I'm afraid that the push he needs will come too late."

Her mother said nothing at that, and they were both engulfed by silence. Artemis sighed to herself as she wondered about her own place in the world.

xXx

"I don't know nothin!"

Batman glared at the thug and held him over the edge of the roof they were on. "If I were to accidentally drop you right now, I can't promise that I'll be able to save you." He relaxed his grip slightly, which made the man let out a squeak. "The more you lie, the you slip." To make his point, he loosened his hold even more.

"No, wait! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"Then who killed David Fort?!"

Earlier that night, Batman went to investigate the murder of said man, and was slightly surprised by his findings. David was tortured a great deal before his demise, and he had the tale tell sign of the Joker's J carved into his chest. Batman would have jumped to the conclusion that it was the clown himself, but there were several indications stating otherwise. Firstly, the way the J was written was much too sloppy for the Joker's handwriting. Secondly, the cut was much too shallow, while the Joker was a fan of digging his tools in as much as possible.

But if Joker wasn't responsible, who was?

"It was Joker!" The man shrieked as he caught a glimpse of the height he was hanging over. "Joker killed him!"

"No, he didn't." The man slipped out of his grip entirely, and went plummeting down the side of the building. The thug emitted a high pitched scream as he fell, a sound at too high of an octave for someone of his age. After he had fallen a couple of stories, Batman hooked his grapple onto his legs and brought him to a painful halt. He then pulled him back up to the roof, eyes narrowed in disgust as he spotted proof of the man's lack of bladder control. "Unless you want to take another tour of the exterior of this building, I suggest you tell me the truth," he growled.

"I was telling the truth, honest!" His breathing had become much more rapid, and he was on the brink of hyperventilating. If Batman didn't get answers out of him soon, there was a good chance of him passing out.

"Do I look stupid? The Joker didn't kill murder Fort. If you continue to lie, urine will not be the only bodily fluid you lose."

"No! Please!" The man gasped, eyes wide. "It was the Joker... but he was real tiny. I ain't seen nothing like it. Joker was standing there, laughing while a smaller one killed Fort."

"A smaller Joker?"

"Yeah. And Fort ain't the only man this kid killed. Rumor has it, the kid helped Joker torture some other guy and the smaller one put a bullet through his head. Something about the guy cussin in front of him or something?" He shivered all of a sudden. "Joker's guys have been callin the kid 'Jay.' It's supposed to be short for Joker Junior I think."

Batman froze. "Joker... Junior?"

"Yeah, that's what I said!" He looked positively terrified. "And we ain't supposed to talk about the kid, or boss'll rip us to shreds!"

"... The police will put you under protective custody."

"But-"

Batman didn't let him finish, suddenly punching him on the side of his head to knock him out. He then sent a report to the GCPD before grappling away, mind struggling to process his new information. "Alfred," he said while activating his com, "We have a problem."

 _"And what would that be, sir?"_

The memory of a green haired baby laughing along with his captors made him scowl at the space in front of him. "Do you remember Richard Grayson?"

A pause. _"Yes. I believe he was the boy the Joker decided to adopt. What of him?"_

"Either he didn't die, or Joker adopted another son. I interrogated a man who claimed to have seen a young version of the Joker, who goes by the name 'Jay.' Sound familiar?"

 _"Unfortunately, yes. Do you know where you might find this boy?"_

"No, but I'm sure that Joker would know. If I find him, I'll make sure he tells me what I want to know."

 _"I don't doubt that, sir. I do not mean to be rude Master Bruce, but I must insist you return to the Cave soon. The young heroes will be seeing the Hall of Justice tomorrow, and you have promised to make an appearance. If you stay out too late, you won't be as enthusiastic about waking up at a decent time on the morning."_

Batman rose a brow even though he couldn't be seen. "You aren't asking me, are you?"

 _"I don't know where you would get that idea, sir."_

The smallest of smiles could have been seen if anyone was near. However, the moment quickly passed and was replaced by his usual stoic look. Jokes were becoming harder to make, and his moments of happiness had longer periods of time between them. The darkness that threatened to swallow Batman whole steadily grew stronger and stronger, and it was only a matter of time before it engulfed him completely.

He needed some light in his world.

"I'm on my way home now." He told his butler before disconnecting. His eyes then moved to the side, where it seemed as though the space next to him was missing something. Batman had repeatedly thought of taking on a protege, but had decided against dragging a child into his lifestyle. It was dangerous enough for a grown man, but it was suicide for a kid.

Besides, who on Earth would be insane enough to want him as a mentor?

...

Miles away, a green haired child giggled as he stroked his sleeping cat.

xXx

 **AN: Next chapter, Young Justice begins, everyone gets their first look at the infamous Joker Junior, and Jay makes a new friend.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Long chapter right here, because I got a little carried away. I only gloss over the uninteresting parts, so I think it makes up for it.**

 **Happy reading!**

xXx

Living with the most fun loving villains in the world was a reliable source of daily entertainment, but when the entire Injustice League is called into a meeting, that source is pulled right away from their son. Jay was admittedly annoyed with the Light for keeping his parents away and leaving him alone in their new dingy apartment. Not only were Harley and Joker gone, but Icy was participating in a Mission with his Dad, and Artemis hasn't been seen in months.

So, in conclusion, Jay was alone and bored. He was so bored that even Batcat had no effect on him. Disney shows were losing their touch, all of the food in the house was expired, and Jay had outgrown most of his toys years ago.

All he had left was watching the news.

Several stations were still talking about the ice villain attacks, which was so two hours ago. Others were talking about the three sidekicks finally being invited into the Hall of Justice for the first time. Honestly though, who cared about the Kiddy League?

There wasn't anything interesting going on in the world, and it only agitated Jay further. He was used to doing something at all times- helping his parents, annoying members of the Light, bugging his friends, or drowning himself in cheesy movies. None of those were possible at the moment (except the last one, but he already watched all of the movies he owned), and it was already taking its toll on his fragile sanity.

 _'A recent fire at Cadmus...'_

Jay paused. Cadmus? He remembered Icicle Junior telling him about the secret weapon that the Light was creating in Cadmus labs. A fire there could mean many things, and foul play could definitely be one of them. A plan began to unravel in Jay's head, creating a small smirk on his face. It was perfect! In order to cure his boredom, he would take the ten minute walk down to Cadmus and investigate the cause of the fire. Not only will he no longer be bored, but if he found an intruder and brought them down, then the Light would have to see that he was capable of Missions!

...Okay, if he was being honest with himself, he just wanted to see what the weapon was.

"Protect the house while I'm away, Bat." He told his cat, who was snoozing on the kitchen counter. After a few seconds of silence, Jay beamed. "I knew I could depend on you."

xXx

The upper level of Cadmus was very dark, and it did a good job of concealing the disguised Jay. All workers had already fled the building, apparently, as it was dead silent. Well, all of the important scientists would be underground, right? But how exactly does one get themselves down there?

"Stop right there."

Jay slowly turned around and grinned at the newcomer. A red haired boy in a bright yellow costume stood before him with his hands on his hips. Flash Guy, was it? Boy Flash? Whatever his name was, it looked like he was the intruder Jay was hoping to find. Leave it to Kid Justice to poke their noses into Light business. "Hi," he said cheerfully.

A dark skinned boy with white hair soon joined them, standing side by side with Yellow Flash. "I do not believe that you should be here. Your parents are probably worried," he said calmly.

That was... Aquafish, wasn't it? Jay was not sure. All of the hero names sounded exactly the same. "Nah, I'm sure they didn't even notice I left." He tilted his head. "What about your parents? I don't think they would like to hear that you started a fire in here."

Fish Boy frowned. "It was not us who started the fire."

Boy Flash nodded. "We just came here to investigate. Now, why are you here? It's dangerous for a kid like you to be up here."

If it wasn't them, then who could it have been? "Hmph. I've done plenty of dangerous things, Flash Jr, so don't think you can pull rank on me." His brain was distancing itself from the conversation, trying to figure out how the fire started. There was still the possibility of it being just an accident, but that seemed unlikely, due to who directed Cadmus. Oh well, it wasn't too important. Besides, he still had a weapon to look for. If he needed to be defended during his search, he had two super humans right next to him. How convenient! "Wait, you're investigating? So am I! How about we join forces and work together? Come on, it'll be fun."

The two shared a look, and Aquabrat shook his head. "No. We cannot allow a civilian to-"

"Cannot allow a civilian to blah blah blah. You heroes are all the same- boring! What makes you think I'm a civilian anyways?"

Kid Yellow snorted. "Pfft. You're not a hero."

"Never said I was one, did I?" Jay countered.

The dark skinned boy was going to comment, but suddenly froze, staring at something over Jay's shoulder. "I just saw someone go through there."

The two other boys followed his gaze to the distant elevator. "Then let's go check it out," Jay said, grinning at their hesitance. "For a couple of experienced heroes, you two don't seem to understand the term investigate."

"I must insist-"

Jay yawned loudly, interrupting another protest. "What was that? Sorry, couldn't hear you over the sound of my boredom." He started to walk towards the elevator. "Coming?"

Aqualad and Kid Flash shared another look before following.

xXx

"What's your name anyways?" KF asked the dark haired boy as the three of them walked through the maze of hallways.

"Joe." The boy answered immediately with a small smirk. Seriously, what was up with him and those creepy smiles? One would think he was a villain from the way he acted.

"A normal name for such a _weird_ kid." The speedster muttered, only to be elbowed by Aqualad.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Aqualad, and this is Kid Flash."

"Uh huh. The sidekicks, right? I hear about you all the time. News and stuff." He didn't seem very impressed.

Again with people calling them that! "We are _partners_. Not sidekicks." He argued sourly.

"I beg to-" Joe suddenly came to a halt, looking ahead of him with surprised eyes. Aqualad did the same, mimicking his expression. Kid didn't catch the hint and kept going, only to be yanked to a halt by the Atlantian.

Then, he saw the giant monsters that nearly flattened him into a pancake. It was very tall, and very muscular. Actually, there were several of those creatures walking together in a group, small alien-like beings riding on their backs.

"Wow. That explains the tall ceiling," Joe commented.

Aqualad ignored him. "This must be what Cadmus was hiding."

KF nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I wouldn't want anyone else knowing that I have a monster infestation either."

His friend frowned. "We should inform the League of our discovery."

Besides them, Joe suddenly stiffened. "No," he said quickly, "There's still a lot hidden away in here. Besides, do you really want your mentors to get all of your well deserved credit? I sure don't."

The sudden change in posture was a little suspicious, but the kid did have a point. "Joe's right. You know that we'll only be proving to the League that we can't handle things on our own. It's about time we prove to everyone that we're not just sidekicks."

There was a brief moment of hesitation before the eldest finally gave in. "Fine, but we are only staying for a few more minutes, and we _will_ contact the League if we run into trouble."

"Sounds good-"

"Halt!"

A squad of those creatures, along with a man in a yellow helmet, had found them.

The heroes tensed in preparation to flee, but could not without leaving their new civilian acquaintance behind. "This just got interesting," Joe said cheerfully. KF nearly hit him; it was bad enough that Aqualad and him were caught, but it would be even more difficult to fight while having to protect him too. Why did they agree to let that kid come with them again?

The giant monsters stomped their feet as though they were going to attack, but stopped when the man with the helmet rose a hand. "Aqualad? Kid Flash? Care to explain why you broke into Cadmus labs like this?"

Um. Who was this strange man, and why was he speaking as though he knew them? Kid Flash was about to ask this when Aqualad spoke, "Wait, I know you. You're Guardian, a hero."

The man, Guardian, crossed his arms over his chest. "I do my best," he told them, even using a generic hero voice. Ugh, he was one of _those_ guys. "How about we call the Justice League and get this all worked out."

Yeah, like the League would be more concerned over them than the obvious safety hazards being grown in these labs. "The League wouldn't approve of you breeding weapons."

"Weapons?" A distant look fell over Guardian's face. "What have I-" his question was halted mid sentence as the horns of the creature on his shoulder began to glow. His confused expression morphed into an enraged one, and he pointed at the three boys with a snarled, "Take them down!"

"You heroes have issues," Joe muttered. "Seriously, multiple personalities?"

"There's definitely something up with him," Kid agreed, "but let's focus on not dying right now, okay?"

Another smirk. "Way ahead of you." A tiny purple pellet was in his hand, and he tossed it at the closest buff G-Gnome, who automatically opened his mouth to eat it. There was a moment of silence before the creature let out a pained cry and fell onto its side. It thrashed around for a minute, opening and closing its mouth wildly, before going was no mystery that it was dead.

"Dude, not cool! You can't just kill them!"

"Why not? Aren't they trying to kill us?"

"Argue later!" Aqualad snapped. "We need to focus on the matter at hand."

Joe giggled in response.

Kid Flash gave the kid a scowl before zipping over to the nearest beast. This one was not as beefy as some of the others, so he was able to knock it over by ramming into it. Aqualad used a similar tactic to defeat his own foes, using his electrified water katanas to stun them. They were obviously not going for a victory, they were only bidding their time until they could escape.

They were so distracted by their own battles that they nearly forgot about Joe. That is, until they heard a strange laughing noise.

Kid Flash spun around to retrieve him, but froze in his tracks. Many creatures had knives embedded in their skin, and others were affected by the same purple pellet that the kid used earlier. One monster in particular was laying on its side, barking out strange coughs. After a few seconds, he realized that it wasn't coughing. It was... laughing.

"What did you do?" He hissed as he lifted him up and carried him away from the fight.

"Just used some laughing gas," Joe replied with an innocent smile. "Just to distract them, you know."

They stopped just outside of an elevator. "You stabbed some of them." KF pointed out, feeling slightly disturbed. The laughter, the daggers, strange sense of humor, and the laughing gas, they all reminded him of-

"Open the elevator!" Aqualad shouted as he ran towards them.

"Right." KF put the kid down and tried to get the doors open, but it demanded an ID. "Uh, that's a problem."

Joe peered at it from the side. "Doesn't look like a problem to me. Out of the way, Kid Zero." He pushed the hero away and plugged some sort of device into the panel. A holographic keyboard appeared which he used to type in a few quick commands. Within seconds, the doors were open.

Just in time too, because Aqualad had finally shown up, with the G-Gnomes following close behind. "Go!" The Atlantian ordered. Kid obeyed and pulled Joe inside, and seconds later, they were joined by Aqualad. Kid Flash pressed a button and the doors closed, making the monsters crash into the wall with a BANG.

"This is so exciting!" Joe exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "My dad is going to be jealous when I tell him about what I did today." Before either hero could question him, he rose a brow. "Well, _someone_ hit the button to bring us to sub-level fifty two. We have maybe a minute until they'll break through that door."

"What?! Are you nuts? We need to get out of here, now!" Kid Flash exclaimed. "Who knows how many of those things are here?"

Joe held up his holographic computer. Come to think of it, where could that kid even get something like that? "The information I was able to get says that there's something really cool on that floor..." he smiled coyly, "Something that your mentors might be interested in."

Manipulative little brat knew exactly what he was doing. KF was already interested in whatever it was hidden on that floor, if it meant impressing the League. Aqualad, however, was not easily swayed. "Kid is correct, we must leave immediately. We cannot endanger our own lives any further."

"Come on, Aquadude," Joe whined. Did he have to mess up their names every five seconds? "Whatever's down there just _has_ to be interesting!"

"The answer is no."

There was a strange gleam in the kid's eye. "Really? Fine, I'll go there myself then. And when I get killed, you'll be to blame for not protecting me."

Huh. Joe _really_ knew how to play people. Kid was actually a little impressed by his technique. Aqualad frowned indecisively. "I don't believe we should..."

"Come on, we're already this far," Kid said with a shrug, "and if we run into trouble, we can still call the League."

A sigh. "I suppose you are right." He nodded at Joe. "Very well, we will go to sub-level fifty two." He pressed the indicated button, and the elevator shot downwards. When the doors opened, the teens exited and were met with two dark passageways.

"Which way?" Aqualad asked Jay, who was trying to pull up a map of the building on his holo screen.

"Stop right there," a new voice commanded, belonging to a much taller G-Gnome. The three boys shared a look and sprinted down the nearest hallway, not even caring where it led to. At the end of the hallway was a large metal door, which a female scientist was exiting. Kid Flash sped ahead of the others and grabbed a container on the floor, pushing in between the closing halves to keep the entryway open. He might have knocked the scientist over in the process, but oh well. She was probably evil too.

"Hurry!" He told his comrades.

Joe jumped through the gap first, followed by Aqualad. Kid Flash came in next and pulled the canister out from behind him, letting the door fall shut. Joe immediately sprung into action and began to hack into Cadmus servers again. After a few typed commands, the door made a loud CLICK, signalling that it was locked soundly.

"Ha, they can't get in!"

"We also can't get out," Aqualad pointed out with a sigh.

"Are all heroes as pessimistic as you?"

"...Pretty much." Kid Flash shrugged, and then looked at the pod in the middle of room. "Well, while we're here, let's see what this is." He walked over to the control panel and stared at it before pressing a rectangular button. At once, a light turned on, allowing them to see what was resting in the pod.

He gasped.

Superman was laying in the pod, eyes closed and arms at his sides. Except... it wasn't Superman. This boy was a great deal younger than the Man of Steel, if his size was anything to go by. Still, the resemblance was uncanny. Same hair, same facial structure.

If he didn't know any better, he'd say-

"A clone? _That's_ what they were hiding?" Joe sounded almost disappointed. KF nearly bristled; would that kid find _anything_ to be serious about?

"What are those creatures on his shoulders?" Aqualad whispered.

Kid remembered that Guardian had a similar creature with him as well, and it had the ability to do something to his mind. "I'm guessing those things are telepathic. Whatever they're telling him, I doubt its good."

A look of outrage. "Okay, now we call the League."

Joe stiffened again. "Wait-"

But Aqualad already had his hand on his belt. The symbol glowed, but didn't give him any other response. "No signal." He said softly.

Joe relaxed.

"We're in too deep... literally." KF joked lamely, trying to lighten the mood. His smile fell when the horns of the creatures with the Superman clone began to glow. "This is so wrong. We need to let him out."

Joe grinned. "Happy to oblige," he chirped as he typed in yet another command on his keyboard. Seriously, how did he get that thing?

He was pulled out of his thoughts as the pod opened with a quiet hiss. The boy inside stirred slightly, his hands slowly curling into fists, and then clenching. Kid Flash automatically took a step backwards. Okay, they really didn't think this through. Clone boy over there could already be brainwashed to hate all people associated with the League.

Blue eyes opened, and before anyone could think, the Superman kid had Aqualad pinned to the ground. Yeah, definitely brainwashed.

A laugh came from where Joe was standing. "So cool!" He stared at the clone with glee. "You know what, we should be friends."

Kid narrowed his eyes and picked zipped over to him, picking him up. "You can make friends with anyone who _isn't_ a brainwashed clone, okay? Now, I'm going to bring you to safety, _and you're going to stay there_. Got it?"

"Party pooper..." Joe mumbled, but consented. KF began to run away from where Aqualad was fighting the clone, but was stopped by Superboy himself. The clone grabbed him by the shoulder and wretched Joe out of his grasp, tossed the kid onto the floor, then picked Kid Flash up and chucked him at the nearest wall.

Everything went black.

xXx

"This reminds me of a movie I watched a while back. It was some eighties thing, so I doubt you ever saw it." He grinned. "I only remember watching it because my mom made the most delicious popcorn! It was buttery, and didn't have too much salt..."

The boy was rambling, but Superboy listened, somewhat curious about his story. He had of course never seen a movie before, but he understood the concept of it well enough. The way this dark haired child spoke was very strange; he got off subject very easily, and his voice was always full of cheer.

It was his voice that made Superboy decide to spare him. He had laughed joyfully, even as his companions were being attacked. There was no fear of him in his blue eyes, and he had even stated that he wanted them to be friends. Superboy was not sure what a friend meant, besides what the definition ingrained into his head said.

'Friend: (noun) a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.'

He would come to a better understanding of what friend meant by using this small human.

"Unng..."

The other two were waking up. The one who smelt like saltwater opened his eyes and stared at him, looking confused. "Superman?" Realization slowly dawned and his eyes darted to the dark haired boy, and he pulled at his restrains fruitlessly. "Joe, run!"

Superboy growled, which made him stop. The saltwater boy, Aqualad if his memory was correct, made his friend stop telling his story. That simply wouldn't do.

The redhead, Kid Flash, groaned as he woke up as well. He silently took in his restraints, Superboy's presence, and the dark haired boy's grin before scowling. "Oh, that's great. We free you, and you turn on us! How's that for gratitude?"

"KF, please." Aqualad said quietly. "I believe that our new acquaintance was not in full control of his actions."

Superboy frowned. He remembered waking up, and there was some sort of haze around his mind. The fog had been strong when he was fighting the two older heroes, but it had completely disappeared when he was faced with the laughing child. The boy's calmness seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in earlier, and he had refused to hand him over to Guardian when he asked. "What if..." he paused, realizing that this was the first time he had ever been able to speak. "What if I wasn't?"

"He can talk?" The redhead asked, apparently shocked.

He felt annoyed. Did this boy believe that he was too stupid to be capable of words? "Yes, he can."

A blink. "Well, it's not like I called him an it." He defended, though he might as well have with his condescending tone.

"Maybe you should stop talking about him like he's not in the room," the dark haired child, 'Joe,' suggested sweetly.

The eldest boy ignored Joe entirely, which strangely didn't offend the child. "Have you seen the world outside of Cadmus?"

Superboy was taken aback. Why did they have a sudden interest in what he has done? "I have images planted in my mind, and I know the name of things." Like movies, he thought. "But no, I have not left Cadmus."

"Do you know who you are? What you are?"

Icy blue eyes narrowed as he took in the question. Of course he knew who he was, that was one of the first things he was taught! "I am the Superboy, a Genomorph; a clone made from DNA from the Superman- created to replace him should he perish; to destroy him should he turn from the Light." The Light was another thing he was unsure of. He knew that it was important to Cadmus, but the exact details have yet to be entered into his databases. He glanced to the boy besides him, who seemed to have recognized the Light. Perhaps Joe could inform him of what that meant at a later time, along with the meaning of friendship.

Aqualad and Kid Flash shared a glance. "To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration. But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own- beyond your pod... beyond Cadmus."

The loyalty to those who created him made his anger flare. "I live because of Cadmus," he snapped, "it is my home."

The black haired child blinked owlishly. "Home? You literally sit in a pod all day. Don't you ever get bored?" He tilted his head. "If I were you, I'd want to see what I'm missing out on in the real world. Just saying."

...Bored? What did _that_ mean? "I do not understand."

"It's simple. We can show you the sky, the moon, the stars... The entire world, if you want." Aqualad smiled. "We can introduce you to the actual Superman."

Superboy imagined what it would be like to meet the man who shared his DNA. He could picture himself learning how to control his powers from Superman himself, and he would become a hero just like him.

A hero.

"No, they can't."

Superboy and his friend both stiffened as Desmond, one of his assistants, and Guardian all filed into the room. The clone glanced to the side and noticed his companion was giving Guardian a look of distrust, so he inched over until he was directly in front of him, hoping that it would relax him.

It might have if it weren't for Desmond. "They'll be otherwise occupied... Activate the cloning process." His assistant nodded and walked towards the control panel, flipping a few switches and tapping a series of buttons. Desmond turned to glare at Guardian. "And get the weapon back in its pod!" His eyes finally landed on the boy hidden behind Superboy, and his lip curled. "I thought I ordered for all of the intruders to be cloned! Even this civilian could be useful in the long run!" The raven haired boy looked mildly offended by this statement.

"Yes, but Project Kr was a bit attached," Guardian stated. "I thought it would upset him if I-"

"We can't allow for him to be attached. Get him back to his pod, and hook this boy up to the spare cloning chamber!"

The dark haired boy took a small step backwards. "No thanks, I'm good."

His statement went ignored, and Guardian put a hand on Superboy's shoulder as if he were about to steer him away. The clone took in the feared expressions of the two already hooked up, and then to Joe who was obviously trying to hide his nervousness with a smile.

He pulled away.

Desmond noticed this. "Don't start thinking now," he ordered, walking over to him. Once they were only a few inches away, the G-Gnome on his shoulder leapt onto Superboy's, horns glowing. A familiar fog muddled up his thoughts, and soon he was in another dazed trance. "See, you're not a real boy, you're a weapon and you belong to me." He paused, and sighed softly . "Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now, hook that boy up to the chamber and get back to your pod!"

Superboy saw himself turn around and pick the raven haired child up, only being able to process how light he was. The trip to the cloning chamber was short, and it only took a few seconds to get him properly hooked up. The boy squirmed the entire time, protesting loudly.

"You shouldn't do this!" He shouted. "I'm Jay, the Joker's son! He will not be very happy if you clone me without his permission!"

The two heroes shared a look of horror, but Superboy left before he could witness what happened next. He took only a few steps outside of the room when he heard it, someone whispering to him. "Superboy," it was Aqualad, "You live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon, or a person, the choice is yours. But ask yourself this: what would Superman do?"

Superman...

Some of the fog lifted. The Man of Steel would do whatever it took to save lives. But, could he do it? The only life he knew was there in Cadmus. If he saved those boys, then he would definitely be abandoning this life behind.

He focused his hearing. The sound of the two older boys's screaming wasn't hard to pick out now that he could think, but... that was odd. Instead of screaming, 'Jay' was laughing.

And it was full of pain.

Superboy shoved the G-Gnome off of his shoulder and charged at the door without much thought. His friend needed him, and he was going to save him.

He tore the door down within seconds, and marched through the opening he created. Immediately, both scientists and Guardian came towards him. "I told you to get back to your-" Superboy didn't let him finish. One quick shove was all it took to knock everyone onto the floor, several feet away from him.

"Don't give me orders," he growled as he stepped around them.

Jay, of course, was the first he broke out, and then he got the other two after some slight hesitance. The moment everyone was free, the redhead and Jay fell into a staring contest, with the former glaring at him angrily, and the latter simply smirking.

"Dude, you're the Joker's son?! Not cool! I knew there was something wrong with you."

Superboy gave him a glare of his own. Aqualad sighed and rose a calming hand. "Let's not argue right now. We all have a common goal: escaping." He looked at Jay. "But if you kill _anyone_ while you are with us, we will not hesitate to abandon you."

Jay gave him a knowing grin. "You're a bad liar, you know that?"

With that, the four teens quickly took their leave, sprinting out of the room and through the long pathway. They were stopped in the middle of their route by a couple of larger G-Gnomes. Superboy had a quick scuffle with them by himself and only reluctantly ended the fight when the redhead pointed out that the ceiling was going to cave. He followed the others to the elevator after that, and even helped Aqualad pry the doors open.

Jay looked up at the elevator shaft and pulled out a black grappling hook. At everyone else's confused looks, he shrugged. "Dad finds the Bat's stuff all the time. Awesome, right?" He grabbed Kid Flash by the arm and shot the grapple towards the farthest edge he could grab. The two were pulled up.

Superboy nodded and picked Aqualad up and launched himself upwards as well, planning on flying up to where the other two were. However, things didn't go quite as planned. Not long after he jumped, he began to fall back down. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't get his flight ability to activate. "I'm falling?" He asked himself as he began to descend. He was luckily saved by Jay, who chucked one of his daggers into the wall nearest to them. Aqualad immediately latched onto it and pulled both of them up to the platform where the other two were.

"Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?" He asked himself sadly.

Jay gave him his usual grin. "Don't be like that. Jumping that high is an accomplishment itself." He looked up, bringing everyone's attention to the descending elevator. Aqualad and Superboy again yanked the doors open, and the four of them stumbled into the new area. No time was given to them to catch their breath as another squad of G-Gnomes rounded a corner and stormed towards them.

"No one breathe!" Jay suddenly exclaimed, throwing a green grenade towards the enemies. Superboy complied, eyes widening as the G-Gnomes were lost in a cloud of smoke, bursting into strange bursts of laughter. Was that even possible?

"I thought I said no killing," Aqualad said lowly as they sprinted away.

The boy gave him an amused look. "Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. That stuff wasn't lethal; Dad doesn't want me to accidentally inhale it."

Kid Flash and Aqualad glanced at each other as they continued to move.

 _'Turn left, brother,'_ A voice whispered suddenly in Superboy's head. Um, okay?

"Make a left," he repeated, as there was no time to question it. The other three nodded and obeyed, turning without any comment. "Now right," he said, listening to the inner voice once again.

Which was a mistake, because it brought them to a dead end.

"Great directions, Supey." Kid said sarcastically, glancing backwards to where the sound of footsteps was coming from.

"I don't understand," he muttered, staring at the wall in confusion. Was he losing his mind or something?

Jay rolled his eyes. "Okay, am I the only one not blind here?" He pointed at the vent grating on the wall. "Perfect escape route right there!"

"Genius." Aqualad yanked the cover off and nodded to the smallest of them. "It is clear you know what you're doing. I must ask that you lead us out."

Blue eyes lit up. "Oh, so I'm leader now? Think that'll look good on my resume?" He cackled and climbed inside the opening, followed by Kid, then Aqualad, and finally Superboy.

"So did your dad send you here to kill us?" Kid asked Jay as he followed him through the vents.

"Nah, I came here on my own. Besides, if I really wanted to kill you, why didn't I do it when you thought I was a civilian?"

"I don't know! Your whole family is crazy, who knows what goes through your head!"

"Right now, I'm hoping that I don't miss the newest episode of-"

"Sh," Superboy interrupted, stopping. Unless he was hallucinating, he thought he heard- yes, there it was. There was something following them in the vents.

"We must find another way out."

Jay shrugged. "If you say so." He crawled out of the nearest opening, the other three following after some hesitation. The black haired boy was messing with his holographic computer when they landed, staring at the screen intently. "Yeah, just as I thought! These guys have been tracking us down using motion sensors."

"Okay, and?"

The boy smirked as he pressed a complicated series of buttons on his keyboard. "Hacked." He looked up. "You're welcome."

"We're not thanking anyone until we're safe." Aqualad looked around cautiously. "Where do we go now?"

"Upstairs."

Kid Flash grinned. "As in, taking the actual stairs?" He threw open the door leading to the staircase. "Finally, I can stretch my legs!" Without another word, he zipped up the flight, knocking over a few of the G-Gnomes who were on their way down to find them. The other boys followed behind at a much slower pace, taking down the remaining creatures as they went. Eventually, Superboy noticed that more were starting to climb up the stairs, and finally decided to break off the staircase behind them.

The boys rushed through the door, and found that there were creatures coming at them from across the hall. In desperation, they dashed through the nearest exit, but were quickly surrounded at all sides.

Jay laughed and pulled out a couple of daggers, Aqualad whipped out his katanas, and KF and Superboy both shifted into their fighting stances. Each one of them were prepared to fight their way out of the room, but it was all in vain. Several creatures lifted their heads, and their horns glowed. A powerful force in Superboy's head made his knees buckle, and it took everything in his power to not collapse.

 _'Perhaps for the sake of all Genomorphs, our brother Superboy should make up his own mind.'_ A familiar voice forced its way into the clone's head and a taller G-Gnome stepped in front of the crowd.

 _'It was you.'_ Superboy thought, recognizing the voice that gave him directions earlier.

 _'Yes, brother. I set the fire that lured your new friends down into Cadmus, woke them when they were in danger -'_

 _'And guided me. Why?'_

 _'Because you are our hope- the Genomorph hero. You will blaze a trail for all of our brothers, showing us the way to freedom.'_ The glowing finally stopped, and the force keeping the teens from moving faded away. They slowly picked themselves up, each staring at the creatures in confusion. _'What is your choice, brother?'_

He looked at the G-Gnomes and realized for the first time what they actually were. They were not monsters, but living creatures forced to do Cadmus's bidding. They were all like him, created in a lab with no understanding of the outside world.

His answer came easy.

"I choose freedom." The clone said out loud, holding his head high. _'Freedom for all of us,'_ he added silently.

Dubbilex nearly beamed at him.

The man in the golden helmet suddenly grabbed at his head. After a few seconds, his stance relaxed. "Feels like fog... lifting..." Guardian lowered his hand from his head stared at the boys for a minute, looking confused. After a few seconds, realization sank in, and his expression morphed to one of determination. "Go. I'll deal with Desmond."

"I think not." The entire group whipped around and was met by the angry eyes of the scientist. "Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus." Desmond raised a glowing vial up to his lips, and drank the liquid in one go. The man then groaned and collapsed onto the floor, just as the teens shifted into their fighting stances again.

"A mad scientist drinking something from a test tube? Guys, I don't know about you, but I think we were sucked into a cheesy movie," Jay told them.

Not able to help himself, Superboy actually cracked a smile.

"Everyone back!" Guardian shouted as Desmond grew into a small giant. His skin ripped as he grew, unable to stretch enough to cover his massive form. The man in the helmet charged straight towards the newly created monster, but was knocked out of commission by a single punch.

Superboy charged at him next, swinging his fists wildly. The only strategy he had in mind was beating the monster to a pulp, so it shouldn't have been as big of a surprise as it was when Blockbuster blocked his attack and threw him up through the ceiling.

It actually hurt a little.

The clone was only given a second to roll out of the way as Desmond too launched himself through the ceiling. He scrambled up to his feet and immediately launched himself forward for another attack, throwing the creature to the other side of the room. After this, they were joined by the other teens, who must've used Jay's stolen Bat tech to get up.

They looked at each other before rushing at Blockbuster simultaneously.

Kid Flash ran ahead of them and circled around the monster at a rapid speed. The redhead suddenly launched himself straight towards Blockbuster's face, but was blocked, and thrown across the room. Aqualad was the next to reach him, drawing his water katanas and slicing at his deformed skin. He managed to get in a couple of decent hits before he too was thrown to the side.

Jay stopped a few feet away from the monster and pulled out a purple colored pellet. "Last of Aunt Ivy's gift," he muttered before chucking it at the beast. The pellet flew through the air and landed inside the monster's mouth. A few seconds later, he let out an enraged roar, otherwise unaffected by it.

"Crap."

"Use the laughing stuff," Superboy suggested.

"Uh, you do realize that we're all standing in a small space, right? Not the ideal place for Joker Venom."

Blockbuster suddenly swiped at him.

Superboy let out a noise of surprise, but didn't need to worry. Jay had simply back springed away, landing on his feet far away from the enemy. He didn't even bat an eye; he pulled out his holo computer again and pulled up a map of the room, not paying attention to the monster at all.

The clone would have stared at him in awe if he wasn't in the middle of a fight.

Eventually, Jay came up with the idea to attack the pillars that was holding the ceiling up. It was a crazy idea that could probably get them all killed, but they had nothing better. Each one of them targeted their separate pillars, and finally, _finally_ , they were able to defeat Blockbuster.

Oh, and they didn't die.

Superboy pushed the large piece of rubble that fell onto them away, and was met with the feeling of cold air on his face. He looked at each of his companions to make sure they were all okay before letting out a quiet sigh. Finally, it was over. They were out.

"We did it," Aqualad whispered, sounding as though he couldn't quite believe it.

"Pfft. Supes and I did most of the work!" Jay exclaimed, grinning even though he was breathing heavily.

Superboy stood, and shook the dust out of his hair. As he did this, the fallen form of Blockbuster caught his eye. They seriously did it, they defeated him. He glanced at Jay, curious to how he knew exactly what to do. One would never guess that such a strange child could also be so smart. If he truly was the son of a rumored madman, then why did he seem... sane?

Well, almost sane. He had his moments.

Kid Flash suddenly pointed at the sky. "Look, the moon," he said softly. Superboy looked up, and was met with the sight of a bright orb surrounded by stars. His breath caught in his throat; the sight was mesmerizing. As he stared at it in awe, a distant spec caught his attention, slowly growing larger as it came closer. Superboy's eyes widened when he recognized the original Man of Steel. "Oh, _and_ Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?"

If he had turned around, he would have seen Jay freeze like a deer in headlights.

Superman came closer, and touched down in front of them. Soon after, several other people wearing costumes joined him. The adults stared at the gathered teens with unreadable expressions as the last of them were brought to the ground by a Green Lantern..A man in a black suit, Batman, Superboy guessed, walked forward and stood next to Superman. The man's eyes were narrowed, and a permanent frown was set on his face. The moment he made an appearance, Superboy felt small hands grab onto what was left of the back of his shirt. He turned around and was taken aback by the terrified expression that Jay wore. This was the Justice League, so why was he afraid? Jay had shown almost no signs of being scared before, even though he could have died several times. So, what changed?

Superman was looking at him.

Superboy forgot about his concern for Jay, focusing on the Kryptonian in front of him. He grabbed a hold of the hanging part of his shirt and held it up, the S now able to be seen. He stared at Superman hopefully, just waiting for his approval. The Man of Steel looked surprised at first, which was to be expected. What _wasn't_ expected was the look of disgust that he had afterwards.

 _What..._

"Is that what I think it is?" Someone commented from the side. Superboy stiffened, letting his S symbol fall back to where it was. The entire League was sharing disturbed looks, as though his existence was one of the worst things they ever witnessed. His face burned with rejection, and he clenched his fists at his sides.

"He doesn't like being called an 'it.'" Kid said in a sing-song voice.

His anger flared. Of course he didn't like being called an it! He waited for Aqualad or Kid Flash to defend him, but that moment never came. He turned to look at them, feeling oddly betrayed that they didn't speak up.

Behind him, Jay mumbled, "Don't worry, _I_ don't think you're an it."

Batman apparently heard him, and narrowed his eyes in his direction. In response to this, Jay gripped Superboy's shirt even tighter. The clone scowled and sent the Bat one of his own glares. Okay, he _must've_ done something to scare his friend.

"Start talking." Batman ordered after another period of silence.

Kid Flash and Aqualad immediately launched into an explanation, telling them how they snuck into Cadmus to investigate, how they found Superboy, what happened to Guardian, and the events that led to the creation of Blockbuster. Jay remained uncharacteristically silent the entire time, doing everything he could to avoid bringing attention to himself. Superboy stayed quiet as well, silently offering the boy reassurance by staying exactly where he was.

When KF and Aqualad were finished, Batman nodded. "We will locate a suitable prison that is capable of holding Blockbuster." He looked at Superboy again, eyes going right through him. "So, his name is Joe?"

"Uh, no." Kid Flash wrinkled his nose. "That's what he told us, but that's not his name. He's not even a civilian!"

"Then who is he?" Superman asked.

Aqualad hesitated. "He claims he is the Joker's son."

All Leaguers shared another startled look, each one now reaching for their weapons or shifting into their batter stances. The worst reaction was Batman's; the man's eye lenses widened, and his entire posture stiffened. There was a long period of tense silence before the Bat's eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. "Move. Now," he ordered Superboy in a low tone. Kid Flash and Aqualad both flinched at the sound of his voice.

Superboy hated it when people ordered him around. "No." He said sternly, hearing Jay's increased heartbeat from behind him. The boy was terrified, that was for sure, and Superboy had grown to be strangely protective over him.

"This is not up for debate. _Move_." All members of the League were now sending Superboy distrustful looks. If he wasn't an outcast before, he definitely was now.

"Just move," Jay whispered, "If they fight us, we won't win. Play it safe for now."

Superboy made sure to keep his face from showing any signs of hearing him. Okay, so they were waiting for a more opportune time to escape. That was smarter than what he had planned.

He slowly moved away, but remained close enough to him so that the boy could instead cling to his arm. Now that he had a good look at him, he could see just how scared he truly was. The boy's blue eyes were fixed on the Bat, and sweat gathered on his forehead. He was still shaking uncontrollably, and was trying his hardest to keep his normal grin on his face.

Batman glared. "You look nothing like the Joker."

Who was the Joker, and why did everyone say his name like a cuss word, Superboy wondered.

"I-I..." Jay dug his nails into Superboy's arm. "Just w-wanted them to leave me alone, and I t-thought they would i-if-" he broke off, letting out a strangled laugh. He put a shaky hand over his mouth and lowered his head, his shaking increasing because of his silent laughter.

"You used a name that would hopefully scare your captors into releasing you?" Wonder Woman asked. She turned to look at Batman. "Seems plausible."

"I am not so sure," Aqualad argued. "He shows many signs of being associated with the Joker. His personality fits the name, and so do the weapons that he carries. He has used daggers, Joker Venom, and poisonous pellets, which apparently came from Poison Ivy."

Zatara came forward. "I sense concealment magic surrounding him. I believe he is hiding his true appearance." He came closer to Jay, who shrank away from him. "He has an oddly colored ring, which I believe is the source of the magic."

Batman snarled, "Then reverse the magic."

"Of course." He rose his hands. "Esrever eht cigam fo tnemlaecnoc!" He shouted.

A glowing light surrounded Jay, but it died out as his ring let out a green light in return. Jay gasped and clutched at his chest before collapsing to his knees. Superboy knelt down next to him and was going to put a hand on his back, but paused as the boy's image flickered. One second, the dark haired boy was kneeling there, but in the next, it was a pale, green haired child. As his appearance continued to change, he curled up on himself and let out a pained, desperate laugh.

"You're hurting him!" Superboy snarled, glaring at the magician.

Zatara stared at him for a moment before relenting, lowering his hands. "Well, that is the Joker's son." He frowned. "The magic being used to conceal his appearance is very cruel. Changing his form requires a great deal of concentration, and it brings him physical pain. My spell was countered by the protective charm on it, and me fighting back only brought him more pain."

Jay was panting now, holding his face in his hands.

The Dark Knight stared at him with an odd expression. "Joker Junior, known as Jay, correct?"

The boy giggled weakly, not looking up. "So you've heard of me..."

"How old are you?" Batman demanded, taking a step towards him.

Jay only whined in return, moving to hide behind Superboy again, while the clone glared at the approaching hero.

"Wait." Martian Manhunter finally came forward, holding a hand up to Batman. "The boy is completely terrified. Your presence alone is scaring him. Perhaps you should-"

Batman ignored him, coming closer to the two on the ground. When he was a mere two feet away, Jay suddenly shot up to his feet, dagger in hand. Superboy stared in shocked silence as he put the blade up to his own neck. "If you come any closer to me, I will not hesitate to rip my own throat open!" He shouted, grinning when everyone froze. "Yeah, I know about your no kill thing. You'd rather break all of their bones and throw them into the Scary Place, huh Bats?"

Batman's eyes narrowed.

"Wait-" Aqualad took a step forward, but stopped when Jay dug the blade in deep enough to draw blood.

"If any of you so much as twitch, my blood will splatter all over the ground in an instant. Allow me to leave, now."

Everyone stared at him. Finally, Batman spoke, "Go. You helped these young heroes, and we are grateful. This is your get out of jail free card." He scowled. "But the next time I hear your name being whispered in Gotham because of a murder, you'll have a cell in Arkham with your name on it."

The word Arkham made the boy flinch, but he shook it off with another smile. "It's a date." He said with a smirk. "I'll be going now." He backed towards the only opening. When he was about to turn and leave, Superboy stood.

"I'm going with you." He said without thinking.

Jay paused, staring at him in confusion. He then shifted his attention to Superman, and he seemed to understand. "Superheroes are too boring, huh? Well, come one then." He waited for him to catch up, and then turned away.

Superboy nodded absently, looking over his shoulder as they left. Kid Flash, Aqualad, and most of the League were staring at him in shock. Apparently, they weren't expecting for him to choose the one who was nice to him over them.

The only one who wore a different expression was Batman, who looked as though he knew something that everyone else didn't.

"I haven't had a sleepover before. This'll be fun!" Jay exclaimed when they were far enough away.

Superboy blinked. Okay, what was a sleepover?

xXx

 **AN: I want to clarify that no, I am not pairing Connor and Dick together in this story. I am not against the ship in any way (it's actually a little adorable), but in this story, they have a brotherly bond and that's it. Superboy simply latched onto Jay's personality because he showed him kindness. There's other reasons too, but I haven't talked about those in this chapter.**

 **Can anyone think of a reason to why Batman would let Jay go? I can name a couple, so pleeeease don't tell me he's being OOC. I will get annoyed and go on a rant, and then we'll both end up in sour moods.**

 **Anyways, this story is pretty much complete, so updates should come often. I'm glad you all think I have updating magic, but honestly, all I have to do is edit and post! So in reality, I'm slow with my updates. xD**

 **See you next time, Arkham escapees!**


	5. Chapter 5

Superboy stood with his back to a tree, eyes narrowed in concentration. He kept completely still in hopes of not being seen, and he listened hard for any signs of his opponent being nearby. In one hand he clutched the weapon of his choice, and in the other was the last smoke pellet he had available. If he was caught, then he had a chance of using it to slip away, but then the battle would become much more difficult without a distraction to rely on. His opponent proved to be an impressive foe, believe it or not, and he needed to be wise in his decisions if he wanted to survive.

There was a crunch of leaves behind him, and he readied his weapon. He had to make the first move, and take him by surprise. With a shout, he darted to the other side of the tree, and aimed his dagger at the creature before him, only to halt mid-strike as he caught sight of who his 'attacker' was.

It was Batcat.

Blinking, Superboy slowly lowered his knife and gave the cat an annoyed look. "You're distracting me," he grumbled, glaring at him. The cat tilted his head at him before purring, turning around with a flick of his tail and darting off into the forestry surrounding them. That cat seemed way too pleased... Wait.

The barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head. "I suggest you drop your weapon and give up," Jay said sweetly.

Superboy muttered a curse as he slowly turned around. The small clown child watched him carefully, a steady hand aiming the gun at his face. Wrapped around the boy's waist was a black and green utility belt, with all sorts of weapons stored in it. Things such as discarded batarangs were joined with canisters of Joker Venom, and caltrops that came from a woman named Selina. In contrast to Jay's wide variety of arsenal, Superboy's blade and handful of smoke pellets seemed like child's play. He should have taken Jay's spare utility belt when it was offered.

"Fine, you win." Superboy dropped his knife on the ground and rose his hands in the air. Jay smirked at him and was about to make a teasing comment when Superboy took the pellet out of his sleeve and chucked it at the ground. A cloud of grey filled his vision, and he stumbled away to find a better hiding spot. Maybe if he found a weapon stash, he would stand a chance against the one man army he was up against.

When he decided that he was far enough away, the clone came to a stop and turned around. Good, there was no sign of Jay following him. All he had to do was find a way back to his house, dig through his room until he found a utility belt, and then get back into the war. With both his superhuman abilities and the right supplies, he would be unbeatable! Satisfied with his plan, he turned back around so that he could begin.

CLICK!

In the blink of an eye, a small projectile flew through the air and slammed into his face, sticking to his forehead. "Looks like you don't know how to properly use a smoke pellet," Jay commented with a grin. "Which made it was ten times easier to follow you. I win!"

Superboy grumbled and pried the Nerf bullet off of his face, flicking it to the side. Both of them had decided against using weapons that could actually harm the other. Jay had used Nerf guns, dull batarangs, and his usual nonlethal Smilex so that there was no chance of him killing Superboy, even with his armor-like skin. Superboy had simply taken a plastic knife, a toy that they found deep in the depths of Jay's closet. The clone admitted that using a utility belt would have been much easier, but even though the weapons couldn't hurt _him,_ they could still injure Jay. The only solution he had was to use a toy knife, and abandon the use of his super strength. There was no need to break any bones in this kind of fight, after all.

"I let you win," he mumbled, which was true in a way. Between the two of them, he felt that he was holding back the most.

Jay huffed. "Yeah, sure. I _do_ have Kryptonite that I could have used on you, I'll have you know! If anyone was being nice today, it was me!"

"You shot me," he countered.

"With a plastic gun! I could have used real bullets and aimed for your eye, but I didn't! It doesn't matter how strong you are, that would have hurt."

The pain would have been the equivalent to a human being poked in the eye. Since that would indeed hurt, Superboy had to admit that he had a point. That didn't mean that he was going to tell him that. "Whatever," he looked towards the house in the distance. "When did you say your parents would be back?"

"Maybe in a few days? I dunno." Jay shrugged and put his gun away. "Someone should have been here to check on me by now, but everyone is so busy with the Light..." his usual smile wavered, before widening. "Hey, want to play a video game? I think you'll like it." Without waiting for a reply, he darted into the shadows, a cackle sounding after him. Superboy quickly followed him, only stopping to pick up Batcat on his way. Jay would have been heartbroken if his pet ran away because he accidentally left him out.

When he entered the house, the green haired boy was crouched in front of the television, plugging cables into their proper places and pushing a game into the console. Batcat jumped out of the clone's arms and gave him an angry hiss before crawling under the couch to hide. Superboy was sure that he was going to wait until they were seated, and then claw at their feet. He didn't understand why his friend was so attached to the animal, as it was probably one of the meanest he could have found. And why name him Batcat if he hated the vigilante he was named after? It made no sense.

His thoughts were interrupted when Jay handed him a controller. "It's called Justice League!" He explained as the title screen came up. His eyes were fixed on the screen as he selected the correct file. "On one player mode, you choose a character to play as, and the game follows their storyline. Eventually, you beat their story, and you move on to the next hero. You can even play as villains!" He was almost jumping up and down with excitement. "But in two player mode, we each choose which character we want to play as, and then we fight! Whoever wins three rounds is the victor!"

Superboy nodded. That seemed simple enough. Jay messed around with his controller until the screen was filled with squares that contained the pictures of the playable characters. Jay immediately went for the Joker, which allowed Superboy to finally be able to match the famous name to a face. The man was extremely pale, with sickly green hair, emerald green eyes, and bright red lips that were even more defined with the lipstick he used to trace a bigger smile across his face. "Is that really what your dad looks like?"

Jay shook his head. "No. Dad doesn't do the lipstick thing anymore, and his outfit isn't black. _Mine_ is." He wrinkled his nose. "His smile is a lot bigger, and his hair isn't as gross. This isn't very accurate. What you're seeing here is what he looks like in the comic books."

A blink. "He's in comic books?"

"Duh! He's in almost all of the Batman comics! He's also in two of the shows, and in one of the movies. No one ever gets his actual appearance right, sadly."

Superboy didn't know what to say about that. "Right... So, uh, how do I pick my person?"

"Move the left analog stick around."

"The what?" Jay rolled his eyes and guided his fingers to the stick, and moved it around for him a few times so he understood what to do. After a few seconds, Superboy moved his cursor over to the grainy picture of Superman. Jay wasn't kidding when he said that the pictures weren't accurate. "Now what?"

"Press X."

Superboy obeyed, and the screen moved to a different selection, each square now containing what looked like different environments. Without much thought, Jay immediately chose the Gotham Rooftop arena. Superboy would have complained about not having a say in it, but decided that it probably wouldn't affect anything.

The fighting arena then appeared, with Superman and the Joker standing across from each other. The Man of Steel put his hands on his hips with a defiant expression, and held his head up high as he said, "You should back down now."

Joker, on the other hand, rubbed his hands together with a wicked grin, a glint of malice in his venomous green eyes. "This'll be fun!" He said excitedly, and the countdown started in the middle of the screen. Once the one faded away, the clown shot forward and backhanded the hero, who stumbled backwards with a pained noise.

Superboy rapidly hit random buttons on his controller as the clown continuously attacked his character, who's health bar was in the danger zone. In the middle of the second round he figured out which set of buttons did which, and quickly found a rhythm. It didn't take long for him to finally take down Joker. He did this again in the third and final round, which pleased him, but made Jay pout.

"I won fair and square," Superboy told him, his unwavering stare canceling out the kicked puppy look.

"I didn't even use my best character!"

A raised brow was met by these words. It seemed odd that Jay would prefer anyone over his father, but it did make some sense. Superboy noticed that Jay didn't seem to know what he was doing, even though it was obvious that he played this game multiple times. Having a character that he was more familiar with did make sense. "Alright, we'll change."

Jay hesitated. "You won't laugh at me?"

That was an odd question, especially since Jay loved laughter. "Sure." How bad could it be? Knowing him, it was probably his mother. Did he think he would make fun out of him for choosing a feminine character?

The child nodded and went back to the character selection menu. Superboy kept his last character, since he was already used to the controls, but Jay backed out of his and scrolled through the choices. Superboy was surprised when he totally skipped over the picture of his mother, and went towards the hero section.

And then he chose Batman.

The environment selection came up again, and Jay glanced at him before selecting Star City Sewage. Superboy made no comment on his choice of character. He was too surprised to be able to word anything, and he was also sure that he would embarrass his friend by bringing it up. The battle scene came up again, with Superman repeating his earlier statement, and Batman saying, "This'll be easy. I'm disappointed."

Superboy repeated his earlier strategy, but found that all of his attacks were blocked, and that his opponent took advantage of any small opening he could find. Within minutes, the Kryptonian fell to the ground with a defeated groan, and the Dark Knight looked at the screen with an almost bored look. Superboy stared at the vigilante for a second, and then turned to look at Jay. He was now too curious to keep his mouth shut. "Why Batman?"

Jay smiled uncertainly. "Well... Batman is absolutely terrifying, but he's also really interesting. I learn as much as I can about him, and the mystery around him only makes me want to learn even more." His face turned red. "I also have to admit that his fighting techniques are pretty cool. I wish I could be as stealthy as him!" He paused. "Don't tell my Dad that."

This was the moment he was waiting for. "Do you even like being a villain?"

Emerald eyes blinked slowly. "Well, yeah. What kind of question is that?"

Superboy shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "You have a lot of hero gadgets, you like playing as a good guy, and you named your pet cat after your Dad's enemy. I dunno, I was just wondering if you didn't like what you're doing."

He seemed to have made a mistake, because Jay's smile faded away and was replaced by an angry scowl. "Of course I like being the villain!"

"Why?"

He looked taken aback. "What?"

"Why do you like being the villain?"

A frazzled look appeared on the boy's face. "Because..." he struggled to come up with an answer, eyes fogged with uncertainty. "It's fun," he said finally.

"What about it is fun?" Superboy countered. Jay opened his mouth to reply, but shut it closed when he couldn't come up with an answer. "Can't you have fun as a hero as well?"

"Dad said that heroes don't know how to have fun."

"You had fun with Kid Flash and Aqualad."

"Who says that I did?" Jay stood suddenly. "Look, you think _we're_ bad? Take a look at the so called heroes!" He glared. "Superman rejected you without even trying to get to know you, remember?" Superboy felt a hint of anger, but squashed it before he could react. Jay was only lashing out because he was confused. He did something similar back at Cadmus, he remembered. "And that's not even the worse of it! Batman hurts people every day just to get what he wants. You might think they're only criminals, but they're family to me! He doesn't need to break their bones and lock them away in the scary place. He can act like the police, and just arrest them..."

Superboy saw many flaws in that statement, but chose not to comment. Instead, he asked, "What's the scary place? You've spoken about it before."

He hesitated. "It's called an asylum, but it's nothing like a hospital for the insane! They torture people in there until they're so broken that they'll do whatever they're told. That's what they called 'cured.' Batman puts my parents in there all the time." He looked down. "And now that he knows about me, he'll try putting me in there too..."

Everything about that sounded so wrong, Superboy couldn't believe that any of it was true. A hero wouldn't do that to anyone.

Would they?

Well, either way, Jay was completely terrified of the asylum. "I won't let Batman come anywhere near you," he reassured him.

Jay glanced over. "Promise?"

"Promise." He confirmed, but he knew that he would have to break it.

"Okay..." He grinned again. "Want to play another game?"

xXx

"Ta-da!" Joker took a bow on stage, and Harley wheeled away the man he 'magically' sawed in half. His gathered men applauded, too afraid to displease their boss. The last man to have done that was just cut into two, and that was only because he sneezed in the middle of a monologue. "Now, back to business." He threw his saw to the side. "Alright, we have to create plenty of chaos here in Gotham to keep Batman from interfering with forces outside of his jurisdiction. The longer we keep it up, the more money we make!" There was another round of applause, and some members of his crew hooted in approval. "Any questions?" Several fists flew into the air. Joker pointed at random. "You!"

"Why are we working under someone else?"

"Good question! I know it seems odd that I'm taking orders, but honestly, I'm not doing anything differently! All they want me to do is distract Batman, which I do every day. Why would I decline their offer if I'm being paid to do what I would do anyways?"

Several people mumbled their agreements and a few more hands went into the air. Joker pointed at another man, who cleared his throat before speaking, "Yeah, uh, why are we working with Ivy, Riddler, and some other big bosses? I thought we hated those guys."

"An alliance with Ivy insures that none of us are poisoned in our sleep, Riddler handles all of our technology needs, Mad Hatter provides us some stylish headwear, et cetera."

"But what's in it for them?"

Joker thought back to the kid he left at his home, and the interest that several villains had in him. "Ah, no need to worry your stupid little heads about that. Anything else?"

"Yeah." Someone came to the front of the crowd, looking disgruntled. "Is what they're saying true? Do you really have a kid?"

The entire room went deadly silent, and Harley stiffened at his side. Joker automatically began to come up with a plan to murder everyone in the room in order to insure that word never left the building, but then he realized how impossible it was for a nobody like that thug to know about Jay. Someone must have told him. "Where did you hear something like that?" He asked in false calmness.

The thug pointed a thumb backwards. "Everyone in Gotham is talking about it. Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone in this state has heard about it by now. I saw that Vicky Vale chick talking about it on tv. Apparently, Batman found the kid somewhere and told the Commissioner about him. There were other officers there, so I'm guessing that they're the ones who spread the word."

The strained smile Joker wore disappeared altogether. Batman found Jay? He was supposed to be safe at the house, Savage had swore that he was! Was his son taken? Was he already being held against his will in some CPS building? His hands curled into fists at his sides.

"Mister J?" Harley whispered.

He ignored her. It was bad enough that Batman found out about Jay, but then the police had to go and blab about him to everyone else? It would be a miracle if he was still alive in the morning! The amount of people on his hit list was growing rapidly with every second he spent thinking about it.

"S-so it's true then?" The man stuttered, eyes wide as though he didn't wasn't expecting that at all. Joker finally snapped, and whipped out one of his guns. With a loud BANG, a bullet whizzed through the air and went through the man's skull. The thug dropped to the ground like a stone, a puddle of blood beginning to form around his head.

"Any more questions?" Everyone was silent. "Good. Now scram, all of you! And don't even think about breathing a word about this to anyone, or I will kill you in the most painful way I can think of." He grinned. "And boy do I have an active imagination." That was all it took to make all of his men scramble toward the exit. Once the room was clear, Joker turned to look at Harley. "I say we go on a vacation. Jay could use a change of scenery, and I'm sure we can find a way to cage his demon cat so we can drag it around too."

Harley nodded with a small smile. "Right you are, puddin! Our little Jay would love it if we took some time off of work!"

Joker nodded, and they briskly left the building. A small amount of sweat appeared on the back of his neck as he continued to wonder what happened to his son, but he had no idea why. It wasn't even that hot out!

He blinked. He didn't _care_ , did he?

xXx

 **AN: Spoiler alert: Superboy only keeps his promise for a few paragraphs into the next chapter. I am very disappointed in him.**

 **It's been decided that I'm secretly Jay, and I'm just writing down my life's story. Besides the fact that I don't have the gender qualifications, this is entirely accurate! I am definitely Joker's spawn. It explains so much. :) Jokings aside (or am I** ** _really_** **joking?), tell me what you thought of this chapter! I want to know if you guys like where this is going or not.**

 **See you next time, my fellow madmen and madwomen!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello kittens! I'm sorry for not updating this on (I've been updating on Wattpad but never transferred them over). Before you read this overdue update, I think you should all know that I have made a huge change to the storyline, the pairing. Um, this is now Superboy x Jay? xD If you don't like that sort of thing, I really don't care! Go read something else if it bugs you ^^**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

xXx

"JAY!" Superboy suddenly bolted from out of his bed, heart hammering in his chest and sweat pouring down his face. The images of his latest nightmare kept replaying in his head, haunting him with scenes of his best friend laying in a pool of his own blood, dead. He kept dying. Every time Superboy closed his eyes, he kept seeing his only friend's demise. This time, he saw Batman standing above him, claiming that he was doing the right thing by taking his life.

Superboy felt ill. When he would ask to return to the Justice League, would they ask him to help them hunt down and capture Jay? Would they ask him to hurt him? Without Superboy protecting him, how much longer would Jay last before he was sentenced to his doom in Arkham?

He suddenly had the urge to check up on him and make sure he was okay.

After climbing out of his bed and exiting his room, it took a few short seconds to cross the hallway and open Jay's door. He hesitantly stepped inside and stood in the doorway, listening carefully.

The sound of his heartbeat calmed him instantly. "You're okay..." he muttered, more to himself than anything. He was relieved beyond words, but he didn't know what he was expecting. It wasn't like Batman was going to appear out of no where and kidnap him, right? He was being ridiculously over protective.

Superboy shook his head at himself and was about to leave, but he still hesitated. What if Batman _did_ sneak in and try to kidnap Jay? If he was quiet enough about it, Superboy wouldn't know about it until it was too late. He wouldn't be able to save him if he was in another room.

"...Superboy, what do you want?" Jay mumbled tiredly, hearing his approach. "If you want another video game rematch, can't it wait until morning? I need my beauty sleep."

"You look fine without it," Superboy said, confused. "And I'm staying in here so you don't die. So scoot over."

"You're weird," Jay laughed quietly but complied, rolling over to the other side of the bed. He didn't once question what Superboy meant, and he was grateful for it. "And did you just say I don't need beauty sleep? Are you calling me pretty?" He teased.

Superboy paused. That was another term he didn't fully understand. What made something pretty? "I don't know, I guess so." He shrugged. "You're prettier than Saltwat- er, Aqualad."

"You're such a charmer, Supes," Jay snickered and turned over. "But seriously, let me get some sleep. I have some stuff to do tomorrow and I would hate to have bags under my eyes. Next time you have a nightmare about me, please be quieter when you freak out and check on me."

Superboy blinked. "How did you know that I had a nightmare about you?"

"You kind of screamed my name earlier. Either you were terrified, or you were having a _totally_ different dream that I don't want to know about." Jay pulled the covers over his head. "Night."

"...Er, goodnight." Superboy was utterly confused by what he meant, but he decided that it was best that he didn't ask. He had a feeling that he wouldn't want to know. So instead, he climbed under the covers and rested his head against the pillow Jay previously occupied, breathing in deeply. He then closed his eyes and listened for his friend's heartbeat, letting the sound lull him to sleep.

xXx

When Superboy woke up, Jay was no where to be found. All that was left of him was a note that said,

 _"I went to the store to grab a couple of things. Don't freak out and follow me. This pretty boy can take care of himself you know. -Jay."_

Great. Jay was going to constantly make fun out of him for calling him pretty, wasn't he? What was the big deal, anyways?! It was a compliment, but why did Jay treat it like something worth teasing him over? Humans were so strange to him. He still had a lot to learn about society before he would be able to join the Justice League...

Which brought him back to his earlier predicament: what would he do about Jay after he became a hero? Villains and heroes weren't allowed to be more than enemies, but where did that leave him and Jay?

Superboy wanted to believe that he would be able to sway his friend to the other side. He thought that deep down, Jay knew that what he was doing was wrong. And maybe, with his friend's assistance, he could see the error of his ways. Superboy was attached to Jay, and would hate to have to cut ties with him. He enjoyed spending time with his green eyed companion, and it made him uneasy to think about leaving Jay.

He saw the scars his father gave him: the J shaped mark on his chest, the 'hahaha's' on his back. He saw the red stained towel in the bathroom that Jay once had to use to mop up his own blood. He saw the way his friend cringed any time he so much as raised his voice around him. The Joker hurt Jay on more than one occasion, and Superboy was sure that he would do it again with no remorse. He couldn't let that happen, that would be just wrong.

But... Superboy couldn't protect Jay and join the League at the same time. He would be betraying everyone. But instead of deciding whether or not his morals were more important than his friendship, Superboy was determined to have both. If Jay put his mind to it, he could become a great hero. All he needed was a push in the right direction.

That was what he thought, but after four hours of waiting around and doing nothing, Jay suddenly barged into the house with several plastic bags dangling from his arms. "Guess who went shopping with rings under his eyes? This pretty boy!" Jay dropped the bags onto the carpet, and a couple of clothing items fell out.

Superboy first studied his face, frowning at the lie. "You have no rings under your eyes."

Jay grinned at him. "Of course I don't. I'm pretty, remember? Beautiful people are flawless, Superboy. Always." He reached down and plucked a black shirt off of the ground, and chucked it at the clone, who instinctively caught it. "There, so you don't have to dress in my pajamas all the time."

Superboy unfolded the shirt and turned it over, inspecting the crimson 'S' shaped symbol on the front. "Why did you buy me this?"

"Pfft, I didn't buy anything." Jay began to go through the bags, and eventually came up with a Joker shirt in his hand. "I think it's hilarious that my dad has fandom merchandise. I mean, everyone hates criminals, but they love villains? Weird."

"...Fandom?" Superboy questioned, but then shook his head. That was not important. "Jay, where did you get all of this?"

"Wal-Mart. You know, the place that sounds like it would sell walls, but has everything but those?" Jay shrugged. "Frys sells fries, but Wal-Mart doesn't sell walls? What's up with that? And don't even get me started on K Ma-"

"Did you steal all of this?!" Superboy exclaimed, ignoring his rambling. He regretted shouting immediately; the way Jay's hands started shaking at his sides nervously.

"...You needed clothes, and we both need food." Jay turned away from him. "How much money do you think I have? But if you don't want me stealing, why don't I just go sell myself on the streets for a couple of quick bucks?" He chuckled, but it sounded a lot darker than usual.

Superboy's eyes widened, but he wasn't entirely sure what that meant. Something about that statement twisted his stomach, and he felt bile rise in his throat. "No," he said hoarsely, shaking his head. "I just... Stealing is wrong."

"The way I see it, stealing means survival." Jay turned to him, his usual grin in place. "Look Supes, don't be pulling the hero crap on me today; as you can tell, I'm not in the best of moods. I have enough on my plate as it is."

Superboy frowned, displeased that his attempts to make Jay good were brushed off so easily. He would have to try harder next time. "...What's wrong?" He asked, curious about what was bothering his friend enough to make his smile strained.

Jay's smile faded altogether, and he pulled a newspaper out of one of the many bags littering the floor. Superboy's eyes immediately fell on the headline: " **The Joker: Father of the Year?"**

"Batman blabbed about me," Jay muttered, eyes sparking with anger as he threw the paper on the ground. "My parents are going to kill me; no one is supposed to know I exist!" To Superboy's alarm, Jay began to pull at his own hair. "I just _know_ that they're coming home now, and I have to explain to them what happened at Cadmus, and why _you're_ here... I'm so dead. Dad will be so mad at me..."

Superboy quickly stepped closer to him and grabbed him by the wrists, pulling his hands away from his hair. "Don't hurt yourself," he said quietly, shaking his head. "It's freaking me out. What should we do about your parents? If they're going to hurt you, I don't think you should stay."

"Are you suggesting that we run away together, Supey?" Jay cackled, grinning at him once again. "Sorry but no, they're my parents. I can't run away from them, it would be wrong. I have to accept that I'll be punished for not listening to them." He averted his eyes. "...Maybe it's best that you leave."

That was definitely unexpected. "Why do you want me to leave? I can protect you from your dad. Don't you want to be safe?"

"You can't protect me from my dad, okay? He's my parent, he's just looking out for me." Jay looked at the floor. "You should leave, because he'll be angrier if he finds out that I'm friends with a hero. Look, I bought you a lot of clothes, and plenty of food. You can live off of that until you can find the other heroes."

"I'm not a hero, remember?" Superboy argued. No, this was not what he had planned. He never thought Jay would be the one to end their friendship because of the roles they had to play. He thought Jay was clueless about Superboy's allegiance!

"You are, though. I tried to show you how fun it is if you stayed with me, but I can tell you won't ever let go of being a hero. I guess I wasn't fun enough, huh?" Jay smiled at him, but it held no happiness. "It was fun while it lasted though. Maybe if we meet in battle in the future, I'll spare you for old time's sake."

"Jay..." Superboy was not happy about the way he was talking. Jay sounded like... like he was going to break down. What was actually going on through his head? "You're not telling me something. What's going on?"

Jay laughed eerily. "Nothing you need to worry your little head about. Just do me a favor and get out of my house. This friendship thing is over, Supes. Sorry." He brushed past the confused and saddened clone, only pausing when he reached the staircase. "...You know, you talk a lot in your sleep. Maybe if you didn't, I wouldn't have to do this." He then darted up the stairs, the sound of a door slamming echoing throughout the house not too long afterwards.

Talk in his sleep? What did that even mean? Was Jay implying that Superboy said something that offended him when he spent the night in his room? Superboy didn't remember dreaming about anything!

But... Jay stressed that he wanted him to leave. And while Superboy was hesitant about leaving him to face his father's wrath alone, he had to respect his wishes. So, Superboy slowly went through the multiple plastic bags and grabbed the clothing items he thought were for him, and took a few food items as well. He made sure to leave Jay something to eat, because he was right when he said he was on the verge of starvation. If Superboy was going to leave him, he wouldn't take all of his food too.

After he had everything safely stored away in a couple of plastic bags, Superboy hesitantly began to leave the house. He crossed through the living room, and paused in front of the couch, where Bat-Cat poked his head out from under. "...Watch over him while I'm away, Bat," Superboy said sternly. The feline purred at him and then retreated back to his dark sanctuary. Superboy stared after him, sighing. He just spoke with a cat, that was enough proof that Jay's insanity was rubbing off of him.

"...Bye, Jay," he muttered to himself, walking out the front door. He looked down at the grassy lawn and saw the nerf guns laying not too far away, which made him smile. It was fun while it lasted. He definitely didn't regret staying with Jay.

But, sometimes it was best for friendships to end...

xXx

 **AN: I know, it's a short chapter. Sorry guys, but I have a lot of stories that need updating but I didn't want to leave everyone in the dark again. Seriously, I have nineteen stories on Wattpad that need my constant attention, so I apologize if I occasionally go on hiatus.**

 **But anyways, thanks for sticking around this long! I'm actually quite surprised that there were people still waiting for an update. I honestly thought that this particular story didn't have many fans. But to those of you who have stayed here up until now, thank you so much!**

 **See you next time!**


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